White House reportedly intervened to stop Kristi Noem pausing TSA PreCheck amid government shutdown

Department reversed course over plan to temporarily suspend program in response to congressional impasse over funding placing a strain on its resources

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The sudden decision by the Department of Homeland Security to U-turn on its temporary suspension of the TSA PreCheck program at airports came after an intervention from the White House, according to a report.

Facing an ongoing congressional impasse over its funding, the DHS announced Saturday that it would scrap PreCheck, which allows approved travellers to pass through airport security more quickly, effective at 6 a.m. Sunday.

But it subsequently reversed course, with only a pause to Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry, which went ahead as planned, as tourists posted images on social media showing PreCheck operating as usual.

The Washington Post now reports that the move by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her adviser Corey Lewandowski to scrap PreCheck was dropped under pressure from the White House, citing sources close to the Trump administration.

A DHS spokesperson did not address the claim directly but told the Post: “We decided to handle TSA pre-check on an airport-by-airport basis depending on workforce and resource strain instead of a blanket policy.

“If the government stays shut down, 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.”

Lewandowski told the newspaper the DHS’s policy was always to “prioritize the general traveling public to make sure they travel through the line as quickly as possible.”

But Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant DHS secretary under President Barack Obama, questioned the adviser’s comments by saying: “If your goal is to process many people as efficiently as possible to limit the number of staff you need, you would actually enhance or quickly clear the TSA lines and then go to your general aviation line – so that did not make sense.

“It means the division that we see between the secretary’s office and the operational experts continue.”

The Independent has reached out to the department and to the White House for further comment.

In addition to suspending Global Entry, the DHS has also responded to the departmental shutdown by cutting police escorts for members of Congress at airports and by halting all FEMA operations other than disaster relief.

The department has endured a nightmare start to 2026, following the tragic deaths of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration agents taking part in Operation Metro Surge.

The public outcry that met Pretti’s killing forced President Donald Trump to stage crisis talks with the secretary and Lewandowski in the Oval Office and send in border czar Tom Homan to take over the operation from Noem's favorite Greg Bovino and ultimately wind it down.

The duo has also attracted unwanted headlines about their personal stewardship of the DHS, with The Wall Street Journal portraying it in a damning expose as chaotic and excessively media-focused.

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