TSA expands Gateside PreCheck visitor access as 9/11 anniversary renews security debate
NEW · Fri. 9:15 a.m. EDT
On the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, coverage centers on Trump administration changes to post-9/11 airport screening: the nationwide end of the shoes-off rule, Gateside by TSA PreCheck letting vetted non-ticketed visitors past security at 13 U.S. airports (online apply 1–3 days ahead), and reports that TSA is weighing water bottles for PreCheck travelers where newer CT scanners are available. Separately, TSA Administrator David Cummins has floated expanding the Screening Partnership Program that uses private screeners under federal oversight; Trump’s FY2027 budget language would require small airports to enroll. House Homeland Security ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) says the administration has rebuffed oversight on the shoe policy.
TSA security checkpoint at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, March 2020. File photograph used for layout; not from Friday’s Gateside or 9/11 anniversary coverage.
Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Center-left view
The Hill, BBC, and WCVB put Friday’s anniversary next to scaled-back post-9/11 rules — shoes-off ended, Gateside non-ticketed access at 13 airports, possible PreCheck liquids easing — while Rep. Bennie Thompson says DHS rebuffed shoe-policy oversight and TSA-union voices warn expanding private Screening Partnership screening could mean inconsistent security.
Center-right view
Fox News, the TSA Gateside launch release, and DHS’s shoes-off announcement frame the changes as a vetted-traveler Golden Age of Travel: PreCheck members can request free same-day terminal access at participating airports, wait times drop with shoes on, and layered ID/Secure Flight screening stays while CT tech supports any liquids experiments.
Sources: Fox News · Transportation Security Administration · TSA / DHS