A Transportation Security Administration departs a body scanner during a demonstration of new software in Arlington
A Transportation Security Administration employee departs a body scanner during a demonstration of new software that uses a stick figure to represent the passenger being scanned, rather than an actual image of the person, at the TSA Systems Integration Facility at Washington's Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, February 1, 2011. In another change, the passenger is able to review the stick figure on a screen with the TSA employee as he exits the scanner, opposed to the current scheme where an agent in a separate room views a high-definition image of the passenger. REUTERS

Passengers may soon be able to stop removing their shoes at the airport when going through security.

New technology is being developed so that passengers can keep their shoes on when going through security at airports, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Politico Tuesday morning.

The solution to many if not all of these inconveniences is better and better technology, she said.

Passengers have been required to remove their shoes since Dec. 2001, when a terrorist, Richard Reid, attempted and failed to ignite a bomb he had hidden in his shoe.

While passengers may be to keep their shoes on, restrictions on liquids will remain. Easing up on liquid restrictions will be one of the last things passengers can expect, Napolitano said.

In terms of what we see coming in the months and years ahead, it will probably be easier and it looks like it will be to deal with the shoe issues before we can remove the restriction on liquids, Napolitano said.

Department of Homeland Security Arizona