Kristi Noem Ordered TSA PreCheck Shut Down—Here’s Why The White House Reversed Her Within Hours

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the suspension of Global Entry and TSA PreCheck last night, to go into effect this morning.

This was purportedly a measure needed to address expected reduced staffing during the government shutdown. Within hours, she was overruled by the White House.

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.

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— TSA (@TSA) February 22, 2026

TSA PreCheck will stay open, however Global Entry remains suspended. That’s a face-saving move for the administration. What happened?

• The Secretary of Homeland Security was freelancing. This hadn’t been signed off on by the White House.
• It was terrible policy. Pushing all passengers through standard security increases the staff time per passenger needed at security, it doesn’t reduce it. Most Global Entry passengers are processed by machine (kiosk), so that too increases staff resources needed.
• Kristi Noem wanted to be the face of the government shutdown, addressing the real public-facing consequences of a lapse in federal funding, the way Transportation Secretary had been during November’s shutdown. The White House didn’t want that – especially after she was the face of bad optics from immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis that ended with dead Americans at the hands of ICE.

Every department except DHS has been funded, so this shutdown is limited. And much of DHS, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, has funding through other mechanisms such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. TSA is the broadest, most public-facing agency within DHS.

The travel industry objected loudly. The White House wasn’t going to let Krisi Noem front-run their political strategy. She was already in hot water politically, barely holding onto her job. It was probably Chief of Staff Susie Wiles who reversed her, but could be Trump himself.

The policy was obviously contrived to inflict pain on the public. And the person responsible for efforts in Minneapolis that inflicted death on the public wasn’t the person they wanted fronting this. Unfortunately the suspension of Global Entry – which both means more staff resources processing passengers and more resources focused on passengers who have already been deeply vetted rather than those who haven’t – continues in force.

I don’t see any reason why Secretary Noem should keep her job after sacrificing security and spreading staffing thin for a badly through-through P.R. strategy. She served the President poorly. That doesn’t mean she’s out, but supporters of the President who want someone executing his agenda effectively cannot be happy with her (or the way she keeps bungling his Party’s election chances).

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the DEmocratic Whip and Democratic Caucus Chair had already called for her dismissal. They were joined by Senators John Fetterman, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Jacky Rosen as well as Governor Maura Healey. Those are Democrats. However Senators Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis – both Republicans – have publicly called for her to be out as well.

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