OAN Staff Abril Elfi
1:38 PM – Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has suggested that changes may be on the horizon regarding the permitted size of liquid containers allowed for airline passengers in the United States.
Noem told NewsNation Chief Washington Correspondent Blake Burman at the inaugural Hill Nation Summit on Wednesday that she is pushing for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ease up on its liquids, aerosols, and gels rule.
“The day I walked in the door, I started questioning everything TSA does,” Noem stated. “I will tell you, I mean, the liquids [rule] I am questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be. We’re looking at it.”
TSA mandates currently state that carry-on luggage can only have containers with 3.4 ounces of liquid or fewer, though there are a few exemptions for medication and infant nourishment. If passengers want to fly with higher-volume liquid containers they have to transport them in their checked luggage.
Noem also suggested that she is working on other ways to make flights easier.
“TSA is working on the technology that we have available to us, if we deploy it correctly, so that… if you’ve got a carry-on bag, you should be able just to walk through their screeners, their scanners, and go right to your flight,” she said. “Fingers crossed. We’re working on it.”
She went on to say that her goal is to make the airport security process take about 60 seconds for every passenger.
“We have put in place in TSA [a] multi-layered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security screening so it’s still a safe … process that is protecting people who are traveling on our airlines,” she said. “But it has to make sense. It has to actually do something to make you safer. I don’t think that was questioned under the Biden administration. I kept wondering if we were doing things just to slow people down.”
Noem’s tease comes after the DHS announced travelers flying domestically will be allowed to keep their shoes on while passing through TSA screening.
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