Jaunted

At least DHS secretary Janet Napolitano is picking up the slack by talking openly about the effects of swine flu on national security. At a press conference yesterday, Napolitano assured the nation that there are plenty of flu vaccines stockpiled in case of greater outbreak, some of which are being shuttled to affected states right now, and most importantly, it is still okay to eat bacon.

Conservatives are criticizing her decision not to immediately close the border with Mexico to non-essential travel, but instead border officials will be watching for signs of the flu in people entering the U.S.

So what non-essential stories is the Evolution of Security blog bringing to the Internets this week? Boston's Logan International Airport has been testing a passive tripod-mounted technology in screening that is both less invasive than the whole-body scanners and allows the public to see who is screening them, so that's cool.

A bomb scare at North Carolina's Piedmont Triad Airport that was proven to be just fossils gets a snippy response from Blogger Bob, and security officials duck all responsibility for last week's missing-ashes story at Sea-Tac. TSA's line on the cremains is that the bag passed through its system and went right to the airline, meaning they don't know anything about it and they don't appreciate you asking. The ashes remain at large.

And what idiosyncratic story will the TSA blog address next week? How about a namesake band? A fivesome of high schoolers in Wausau, Wisconsin are headed to a state-wide battle of the bands contest under the name "TSA." Maybe their video could premiere on the now-month-dormant TSA YouTube channel. Blogger Bob, if you're reading this, you can have this story for free -- as long as you promise to suck less next week.

Related Stories:
· Napolitano: Border With Mexico to Stay Open for Now [WaPo]
· Missing Crematory Remains [Evolution of Security]
· Band wins competition [Wausau Daily Herald]

[Photo of the San Ysidro border crossing: wilemvanbergen]