White House Reportedly Intervened to Stop Kristi Noem From Shutting Down TSA PreCheck

Olivier Douliery/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)

The controversial plan to temporarily suspend the TSA PreCheck program during the partial government shutdown was envisioned by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her controversial-for-a-different-reason top adviser Corey Lewandowski, until the White House intervened to stop it, according to a report published on Monday by The Washington Post.

Noem’s tenure leading DHS has been increasingly rocky lately amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with public opinion souring on the administration’s policies, even among Republicans, in the wake of the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Numerous lawsuits have been filed naming Noem, DHS, ICE, and other Trump administration officials, with judges issuing a string of scathing opinions finding Noem’s agency violated detainees’ constitutional rights.

The DHS functions that oversee air travel experienced some headaches this week when it was reported that TSA was expected to temporarily suspend the popular PreCheck program, which allows travelers to expedite some aspects of airport security by submitting to a pre-screening identification and background check process, until Congress negotiated funding for DHS and brought an end to the partial government shutdown. Currently, congressional Democrats are objecting to the DHS budget and demanding reforms to ICE’s operations and other immigration enforcement policies.

The idea, according to the Post, came from Noem and Lewandowsi, who have long been rumored to be having a “romantic relationship,” and regardless of any personal entanglements between the two, he unquestionably exerts a high level of influence.

The plan to pause PreCheck met with loud opposition, especially from Democrats, airline industry organizations, and frequent travelers, many of whom took to social media to voice their outrage.

After just a few hours, the PreCheck suspension plan was “pulled back after the White House intervened,” the Post reported, citing as sources “a White House official and a person close to the Trump administration.”

So far, however, it does appear that DHS is moving forward with suspending Global Entry, a similar pre-screening program that is administered by Customs and Border Protection.

“We decided to handle TSA pre-check on an airport-by-airport basis depending on workforce and resource strain instead of a blanket policy,” a DHS spokesperson told the Post in a statement. “If the government stays shutdown, we will be forced to implement these emergency measures nationwide to mitigate resource and workforce strain. This political game by the Democrats is putting strain on our TSA workers who are working without pay.”

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