Keep those shoes on

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this week that technical progress in airport screening could soon mean that passengers will no longer have to remove their shoes to get through preflight security. The measure, introduced after Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in 2001, is widely considered one of the most annoying aspects of the current airport screening protocol.

Napolitano offered no time frame for the change, but said it would likely come before regulations can be loosened on transporting liquids in carry-on luggage. “We are moving towards an intelligence- and risk-based approach to how we screen,” she said.