Laughable: DHS Reverses Course, Keeps TSA PreCheck Open

Earlier, I covered how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced plans to shut down TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, due to the partial government shutdown. Well, there’s an update, which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise at all.

TSA PreCheck will remain open after all, of course

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has just released a statement that PreCheck checkpoints won’t be closed after all. Instead, we’re being told that these situations will be handled on a case by case basis:

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.

There’s no news yet on whether Global Entry is suspended or not.

Why is the level of incompetency so high?

You know, I started my post about the policy change by writing the following:

This doesn’t strike me as being terribly logical, or as a winning strategy politically… but maybe it’ll get reversed within hours, kind of like that El Paso Airport (ELP) shut down?

I was only sort of being sarcastic, but I guess not really, because of course this is how things play out. Reports suggest that airlines and the TSA were caught completely off guard by this announcement, so one wonders how half-baked this idea was. Or let’s be honest, there’s nothing to “wonder” here — this wasn’t even half-baked, that’s giving them too much credit.

You’ve gotta love the people who came out in support of this. One of the OMAAT community’s most prolific commenters described this as “bargaining on a level most of us can never hope to achieve.” Indeed, fabulous job to President Trump and Secretary Noem for this exceptional achievement… talk about the art of the deal! Are we tired of “winning” yet, and of being the envy of the world?

Bottom line

Good news… TSA PreCheck lanes aren’t closing after all. Because as it turns out, if you anticipate having a staffing shortage, increasing the average amount of time it takes to screen each passenger isn’t a best practice. One seriously has to wonder how this country even semi-functions, when we have such mind-bogglingly dumb policies put in place, only to then be reversed hours later.

Which Trump policy did you prefer — the one where they put this rule in place, or the one where they reversed course hours later?