Being an inside-the Beltway'er for way too long, I always look for the hidden agenda, because Chertoff wouldn't have thought of this on his own and he has no apparent motivation for reviewing TSA practices and policies.

He's unemployed next Jan 20th at noon EST, so he's certainly not doing this to increase his stature within the Administration or impress Congress or the American public. Perhaps he's embarrassed by the amount of bashing the TSA is taking on the blog (Maybe he never wanted to start the blog in the first place?) and by the poor performance of his senior leadership's attempts at explanations (Francine the Lawyer and Kippie himself) of their policies that were either wrong or convoluted.

But, the most fundamental question I have is: Why is Chertoff making this pronouncement and not Kippie???