About a year ago during TSA's Thanksgiving press conference to unveil the 3-1-1 liquids campaign, a question came up about handling of duty-free liquids between countries.  Hawley had just come back from Brussels speaking with his European Union counterparts on this and other issues.

Hawley said that everyone is looking for a private sector solution where there is an assured supply chain, one way or the other.  "If they can find an appropriate supply chain bringing the duty-free goods to the airport and protecting it along the way, we’re open to it," he said.   "But as of today, there’s not a bag that is commonly agreed to that meets all of our standards."

This is essentially a private sector opportunity to adjust their business model to meet security requirements, said Hawley.  "But we won't spend taxpayer dollars on finding ways to make it easier to buy duty-free liquids," he warned.