For a few hours early Sunday morning, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set off panic among frequent travelers and the entire airline industry before a policy to suspend expedited PreCheck security screenings was quickly suspended itself. Let’s examine the timeline of incompetence.
TSA Briefly Shut Down PreCheck, Then Reversed Course Hours Later
For a few surreal hours early Sunday morning, the U.S. government appeared ready to pull the plug on TSA PreCheck, one of its most popular trusted traveler programs.
Then, almost as quickly as the announcement surfaced, it was overturned.
By mid-morning, DHS was walking the decision back. TSA PreCheck lanes remained open (many never closed).
So what happened?
Based on contemporaneous reporting, archived DHS statements, and how the reversal unfolded, here is the most coherent timeline I can piece together.
A Timeline Of A TSA Shutdown That Was Even Too Much For Trump
It all began late Saturday night…
11:00 pm ET Saturday Night: DHS Issues Emergency Measures
Late on Saturday, February 22, the Department of Homeland Security posted a press release outlining emergency measures to conserve resources amid the ongoing government shutdown (archived version here).
Buried in the release was a bombshell:
As the Transportation Security Administration enters emergency operating status, resources are being consolidated to prioritize essential security operations and focus personnel on detecting and countering threats. Effective at 6:00 a.m. on February 22, nonessential privileges and courtesies provided by TSA will cease.
As a result:
- TSA PreCheck® lanes will be closed. All TSA PreCheck® members will be directed to general screening lanes to maintain our security standards and consolidate TSA’s limited personnel and resources.
- All courtesy escorts, including for members of Congress, will cease. These escorts put increased strain on our officers, who must be allowed to prioritize their critical work of screening passengers.
Operations at all airports will prioritize screening of the general traveling population. Without appropriations, TSA simply cannot afford to risk overstretching our staff and weakening our security posture. Until funding is restored, all travelers should expect a process that does not sacrifice security, but refocuses TSA officers to standard screening procedures. TSA PreCheck® and other services will resume upon Department of Homeland Security funding being signed into law.
The stated justification in redirecting staff to screening the general traveling public was resource conservation to avoid “overstretching our staff and weakening our security posture.”
The announcement was widely picked up overnight by the media and outgoing DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the news to The Washington Post.
5:00 am ET Sunday Morning: Panic Sets In
Travelers woke up to headlines warning that PreCheck lanes would close within hours. Airlines scrambled internally. Airport operators began asking TSA what this would mean operationally.
And that’s when the internal pushback appears to have started.
As should have been clear to anyone, shutting down PreCheck does not free up resources in the short term. It does the opposite:
- It pushes millions of known travelers back into standard screening
- It increases checkpoint congestion
- It strains TSA staffing models already stretched by the shutdown
Many quickly pointed out the decision was operationally self-defeating.
At many airports, TSA PreCheck continued to operate despite the order from DHS: local TSA leadership did not comply with the directive to suspend TSA Pre-Check!
10:00 am ET Sunday Morning: DHS Reverses Course
By late morning, DHS had reversed itself. Per The Washington Post:
“A DHS official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal processes, said the change was ‘based off of conversations the secretary had with the White House and TSA.'”
The language on the TSA website was updated:
At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public. As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly. Courtesy escorts, such as those for Members of Congress, have been suspended to allow officers to focus on the mission of securing America’s skies.
No formal explanation was offered for the about-face.
Who Made The Call, And Who Undid It?
At this point, it appears that this was a decision by Noem that the White House quickly overruled.
Was This Kristi Noem’s Decision?
Given the political framing of the original DHS release, which explicitly blamed Democrats for the shutdown, it is difficult to believe this decision originated from anyone other than Noem. It said:
“Shutdowns have real world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security. The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians. TSA and CBP are prioritizing the general traveling population at our airports and ports of entry and suspending courtesy and special privilege escorts.”
That was not just part of the release, but a quoted statement from Noem herself.
Who Overruled It?
The White House woke up to a barrage of contact on Sunday morning from key stakeholders within TSA, Congress, and the airline industry calling on it to reverse this decision.
Of course, The PreCheck program is one of the few DHS initiatives that is popular, visible, and self-funded. Suspending it created immediate political and practical blowback, especially on a Sunday morning travel peak.
Someone with authority stepped in and said “no.” Maybe Chief of Staff Susie Wiles? Maybe Trump himself?
Whether that was internal DHS counsel, senior TSA officials, or outside political pressure, the reversal strongly implies the original decision did not survive first contact with reality.
What This Episode Says About Competence…
Once again, this administration, of which Noem is part, demonstrated a willingness to announce a sweeping operational change affecting millions of travelers without fully understanding how the system actually works.
TSA PreCheck is not a perk. It is a load-balancing mechanism. Shutting it down increases risk, congestion, and public frustration, precisely the opposite of what an agency should want during a shutdown.
That the decision was reversed within hours is good news for travelers.
That it was made at all is deeply concerning. Noem has no business running DHS…there is no other way to say it.
Competent governance is not about issuing dramatic statements. It is about understanding second-order effects, listening to subject-matter experts, and resisting the temptation to score political points at the expense of functional systems.
On that front, this episode was a quiet but telling failure, one papered over only because someone, somewhere, realized the mistake in time.
Make no mistake: this decision was made simply to inflict pain on American travelers, hoping they would blame Democrats (who are responsible for the DHS shutdown). What a petty ploy that highlights the staggering incompetence of an agency that is tasked with keeping American skies safe and moving.
CONCLUSION
Let’s recount what happened. A major policy affecting millions of travelers was announced, enforced unevenly, and then quietly reversed within hours, all without clear communication or accountability. That is not how a serious government operates.
This was not a close call or a hard tradeoff. It was a self-inflicted wound, caught just in time because enough people inside and outside the system understood how disastrous it would have been. The White House stepping in to undo the decision may have spared travelers real disruption, but it does not erase the fact that the decision was made in the first place.
If a core aviation security program can be casually weaponized during a shutdown, even briefly, it raises uncomfortable questions about judgment, priorities, and competence at the highest levels of DHS.
PreCheck survived this round. Confidence in the people running the system did not…
Can anyone defend the temporary shutdown of PreCheck? *crickets*
image: TSA
Well, the Ds need to get some sense and pull for regular ordinary citizens such as myself rather than concerning themselves with people not necessarily legally present in the US.
Nice try, but, no, this isn’t the Democrats fault.
Trump and his administration have violated the law, abused power, and ICE needs to be reigned in, so more Americans are not murdered by our own government.
252 days until the midterms, friends.
What about Global Entry?
Separate story.
This is coming from Kristi THE KAREN Noem, that also fired a Coast Guard pilot for losing her blanket. Having her budget in question was likely a motivation to punish everyone. Also note she is in charge of the Secret Service that had a Mar A Lago incident this weekend as well. Her solution? Buy graduating agents $4000 monagramed suits. She was never qualified for her job. But in this administration who is?
Under a pseudoBiden regime and a demshevik-run congress, things would run more smoothly, especially the laundering of all that tax money. We must spread the wealth around, from the working folk to the sedentary political billionaire bosses. The problem of making hard decisions is avoided where possible, and otherwise concealed in the back rooms of the patrons and therefore doesn’t fluster the peasantry as much.
Have you looked into the Trump family crypto business or how Lutnick’s boys bet against tariffs and stand to make millions? Pot/kettle/black.
Drain the swamp! Start with the current administration.
Crickets???
It is better to lose face and correct a prior decision than to use your power to defend a bad decision.
Politicians, not just Trump, are stupid, often have dementia, waste money, and are lazy. For many decisions, lawyer politicians should listen to road warriors, individual investors, doctors. pilots, car mechanics, etc.