The Transportation Security Administration is known for theft, degrading passengers, and judging or getting off on your full-body scans. It is not, typically, known for administering any security to our transportation — in fact, any success on TSA's part is a break from the norm. So when Kristi Noem, our mouth-frothing Secretary of Homeland Security, takes some time out of her busy schedule of spreading unfounded and dehumanizing stories about immigrants to propose that TSA cut back on the whole "enforcement" thing by allowing larger liquid containers on planes, I'm reluctantly forced to agree. She may have a point on this one.
Now, this is not intended to defend Noem as a person. She had a sitting Senator thrown to the ground and handcuffed for questioning her regime at the Department of Homeland Security, she presides over a vindictive and spiteful wave of mass deportations, and she once personally threatened to shoot Joe Biden's dog. From an ideological standpoint, I can't really fathom why she'd want TSA to allow larger liquids on planes — especially when the organization is known for racial profiling in its enforcement, a practice so widespread in Noem's DHS that a federal judge had to issue orders against it. But, after forcing TSA to allow fliers to keep their shoes on through security, Noem now wants to allow your Coke through too. I'll take the wins where I can get them.
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Noem brought up the proposed policy change at Wednesday's Hill Nation Sumit, a media event replete with business leaders, government power players, and reporters. According to The Hill, Noem said, "But I will tell you — I mean the liquids — I'm questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be. We're looking at, you know, our scanners." Truly amazing how no one in the Trump administration can string a sentence together in a coherent way, but it sure sounds like TSA may start to allow bigger bottles soon.
Noem's policies have been tough on largely imagined "crime" at nearly every turn, but allowing liquid containers larger than the current 3.4 ounce limit seems to run counter to that mindset. Perhaps this is the airing of a personal grievance — maybe Noem was embittered after being forced to discard a freshly-purchased Dr. Pepper at a security checkpoint — or maybe it's a classic example of bosses identifying a completely random key performance indicator (in this case, average time a traveler spends at airport security) and optimizing for it at all costs. Regardless, Noem seems to have made a rare good call, and we may soon be popping larger-than-3.4-ounce bottles on planes in celebration.
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