At some currently unspecified point down the road, you’ll be able to go through airport security without taking your shoes or belt off. The policy easement was announced by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during a forum hosted by Politico Playbook in DC.

Perhaps the news was intended to be some kind of 9/11 10th anniversary gift?

Limits on the amount of liquids travelers can bring on board will remain, Napolitano said, because screening technology can’t tell the difference between, say, nitroglycerin and Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo with Orchid and Coconut Milk. (How I tell the difference? One leaves my hair silky smooth, the other, plastified to my skull).

Later this year, the TSA will launch its “Known Traveler” program which lets those who give additional personal information keep their shoes on and their laptops in their bags.

The US started making passengers take their shoes off in 2001 after al-Qaeda member Richard Reed boarded a flight from Paris to Miami and tried to light a fuse with a match that connected to plastic explosives hidden in the hollowed-out bottoms of his boots.

Air Travel Shoes-Off Screening Rule to Be Eased in Future, Napolitano Says [Bloomberg] (Thanks to Todd!)

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