The TSA ends shoe removal for passengers: this is the “shoe bomber”, the reason behind this airport security practice

Passengers traveling through airports in the United States will no longer have to remove their shoes before going through the security line, almost 20 years after the policy was introduced, a move which should significantly speed up one of the more tedious aspects of the air travel process.

Who is Richard Reid, aka “the shoe bomber”?

The security measure was first deployed in 2006, five years after Richard Reid, christened the “shoe bomber,” attempted to use a match to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers on an American Airlines flight from Miami to Paris on December 22, 2001, just three months after 9/11.

Reid, who was born in England in 1973, converted to Islam while in prison in his homeland in the 1990s, later attending the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted 9/11 conspirator.

The “shoe bomber” traveled to Brussels at the start of December 2001, telling Belgian authorities he’d lost his British passport, which resulted in him getting a new one from the British Embassy.

“Shoe bomber” stopped and questioned day before terrorist attempt

A little over a week later, Reid went to Paris and bought a round-trip ticket from the French capital to Miami to Antigua. However, the day of his flight, he was stopped and questioned by airport officials due to the fact he had bought the ticket using cash, and was traveling without luggage. He was eventually cleared to board his flight, but didn’t make it on time.

He did, however, take the same AA flight from Paris to Miami the following day, and attempted to use a match to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers. Passengers and crew were able to restrain him and the flight was diverted to Boston, where he was arrested.

Life imprisonment and fine

In January 2002, Reid was indicted on nine counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of passengers on an aircraft, and attempted homicide of US nationals overseas. One count (attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle) was dismissed and he initially pleaded not guilty to the eight remaining counts against him, before changing his plea in October.

Reid was then sentenced to life in prison and fined $2 million in January 2003. He is serving his life sentence at the US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum facility in Florence, Colorado.

The shoe removal policy came into force five years after the “shoe bomber” plot was foiled after the strategy was identified as a “continuing threat,” along with the detonation of liquid explosives.

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