TSA Launches Blog To Reach Out to Shoe-Removing Travelers - Via Threat Level:

The Transportation Security Administration, perhaps best known for blue-gloved screeners who don't tolerate jokes, launched a blog Wednesday called Evolution of Security, which promises to be written by a collection of TSA employees including a frontline screener, technology developer and a TSA analyst.

The first post carries TSA's chief Kip Hawley's byline and said that the bloggers or "hosts" are there to create a dialog with passengers.

Our hosts aren’t responsible for TSA’s policies, nor will they have to defend them -- their job is to engage with you straight-up and take it from there. Our hosts will have access to senior leadership but will have very few editorial constraints. Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive but not touch the critical or cranky. [...]

We will not only give you straight answers to your questions but we will challenge you with new ideas and involve you in upcoming changes.

This isn't Hawley's first foray into the so-called blogosphere. In the spring and summer, Hawley answered security guru Bruce Schneier's questions in a series of email interviews. (To see the comments, start with the first post.)

This will be interesting to watch. There's little love for the TSA on the internet, and this kind of openness will challenge an organization that long denied the mere existence of the no-fly list. The TSA will be challenged to make sure that their blog is actually transparent and not simply a conduit for content-free PR copy or a bully pulpit as the Department of Homeland Security's Leadership Journal blog is.

THREAT LEVEL admits to a little sadness at the launch since we were talking in the spring with the TSA about having Kip Hawley become a regular guest blogger for us.

Maybe instead, they'll invite THREAT LEVEL to come scribble on their wall.

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)