Government to change airport security policy for children

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the government will soon introduce a new airport security policy for children under 12.

According to The Hill newspaper, Napolitano said that children will no longer have to take off their shoes when passing through security, and will be subject to a revised pat-down from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers with less frequency than they currently are.

“We have also been piloting programs to deal with children under the age of 12 with respect to not only taking off their shoes but also pat-down procedures and we hope over the coming weeks and months to be able to begin rolling that out,” Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Napolitano said that the new rules won't mean that kids are never screened.

“There will always be some unpredictability built into the system and there will always be random checks even for groups we are looking at differently, such as children under the age of 12, but I think the traveling public will begin to see some of these changes really in the coming months,” she said.

Last week, Napolitano announced that all air travelers will eventually be able to keep their shoes on when passing through security checkpoints at airports.

“We are moving towards an intelligence and risk-based approach to how we screen,” Napolitano said at an event hosted by Politico. “I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on."

As CBS News points out, travelers and privacy advocates have complained over the TSA's pat-downs of children:

Previous pat-downs of kids were met with criticism. Earlier this year, CBS News reported the case of a 6-year-old who went through an intense pat-down through security at New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport.