According to a report by Reuters‘s Mark Hosenball, Matt Drudge‘s Drudge Report and many others have been kept under surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS official involved in the monitoring program confirmed the authenticity of the list to the news agency.

The United States Secret Service has confirmed that it has been authorized by Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano to offer protection for GOP candidate Herman Cain.

The Drudge Report is one of the most influential news aggregators around. However, Matt Drudge’s headlines, shortened to achieve maximum lean to the Right, do tend to ruffle some feathers. One such ruffle-victim appears to be Janet Napolitano who spoke out to Politico about the way the site depicts her, calling Drudge “just wrong” about her privacy policies.

Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters has taken appropriate umbrage at Cartoonist Garry Trudeau‘s latest Sunday Doonesbury strip over its use of a sexist (and, frankly, lazy) joke about Sarah Palin‘s breasts. The strip feature Palin on TV telling an interviewer that her recent Newsweek cover story “shows that as president, I’d be totally ready if called on to fill out a tight sweater.”

With Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) insisting that funding the recovery from Hurricane Irene be offset with spending cuts, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that Congress should be focused on providing relief and not get caught up in political gridlock.

President Barack Obama made an address today in front of the White House on Hurricane Irene. He laid out the response efforts the government has been making in areas hit hardest by the storm. Even though the storm has passed through most of the eastern seaboard already, the president warned that “many Americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding.”

Get ready for something like this: @WhiteHouse – Terror Alert #BeScared

Ok, not really, but the government is planning on employing social media to alert citizens of danger. A 19 page document has been released detailing the new alert system that will be replacing the color code whose retirement was announced last January. The new system will only have two levels, elevated and imminent, and will be sent out only for a limited period of time.

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, a man who knows something about the dangers of advanced body scanning technology, sued Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration yesterday over the new airport security measures. In the lawsuit, he alleges that he’s been exposed “to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body.” Man, can you imagine the poor TSA agent who had to do those things to a furious Jesse Ventura?

Reports are trickling in that a suspicious package “ignited” this afternoon at a Washington, DC building that handles government mail. The package was addressed to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The building has been evacuated as D.C. Fire and EMS made their way to the facility.

So far, no injuries have been reported.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared on CNN‘s State of the Union and was eager to defend Director of National Intelligece James Clapper’s embarrassing ordeal of being unaware of the London arrests of 12 people as part of a potential holiday terror plot. Napolitano attempted to dismiss concern by explaining Clapper’s lack of knowledge due to the fact that he was so involved with other issues and did not haven time to squeeze in a briefing before the interview with Diane Sawyer.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano attended the funeral of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry who was fatally shot while pursuing a gang last week in Arizona. In a phone call where Napolitano offered condolences to the family, the father of the murdered agent, angry that the border is still not secure, told her “you gotta wake your man up in the White House” and she allegedly responded “he’s done more in the last two years than any other president.” However, to the Terry family such sentiment represented “empty words.”

It would seem that Rush Limbaugh’s been watching a lot of ABC recently and hasn’t liked what he’s been seeing. No, it’s not that he’s felt the second season of Modern Family’s been subpar. Rather he caught two interviews the ABC News team did with members of the Obama Administration and didn’t like what either had to say. After the jump, some of Limbaugh’s harsh words for Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano.

The fight to defend the Homeland may only be a 364-day-a-year job, but cracking on gaffes–especially when they slip from the tongues of members of the Obama Administration–well the gang at Fox & Friends don’t take days off–ever.

Last night on ABC’s World News, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano tried to ease the fears of terror-weary Americans who’ve heard all about the heightened concern over a holiday attack. And she came so close to getting it right:

Ya gotta wonder which day America’s anti-terror forces are kicking their feet up with a book and maybe a nap, instead of, you know, “keeping the American people safe?”

On ABC’s World News tonight, Diane Sawyer sat down with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to talk about the possibility of a terror attack over the holidays.

And Napolitano, doing her best to keep us all feeling cozy and warm, said it’s almost a year-round operation:

Newly-minted Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs made his debut as the star of a new O’Reilly Factor segment last night, and it appears that, at least on the immigration issue, the new, improved Dobbs may have mellowed out. In fact, compared to Bill O’Reilly‘s continually high level of outrage against Meg Whitman‘s former illegal immigrant housekepper, Nicki Diaz, Dobbs seemed level-headed to the point of relative apathy.

For a little over a week, an eternity in news cycle dog years, the uproar over TSA pat-downs has dominated the media landscape like the bastard spawn of Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin, and Balloon Boy. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend news dead zone, there seems little chance its momentum will slow, but The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz may be ushering in the most welcome phase of this story’s arc: the inevitable backlash against the TSA backlash.

The parade of TSA horror stories continued this weekend, as a YouTube video featuring a young boy being patted down has gone viral, hitting the top spot on mega-aggregator The Drudge Report. In the cellphone clip, posted by college student Luke Tait, a shirtless young boy is being patted down by TSA agents, prompting Drudge to dub the video “Hands on Boy.”

The TSA has responded to the clip on their blog, and offered some facts that differed from the account posted on Tait’s YouTube account. After the jump, check out the video, and decide if TSA’s explanation really helps at all.

John Tyner, the man whose viral video refusal to have his “junk touched” has made him something of a folk hero, appeared on Fox News‘ America Live to respond to unfortunately-named TSA administrator John Pistole, among other things. While Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano maintain that the privacy of Tyner’s privates is a small sacrifice to make, software engineer Tyner says his hardware is off-limits.

In an editorial for USA Today, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended new airport security measures, just as pat-downs have come under attack via a viral video of a man refusing to have his “junk” touched by TSA officers. Napolitano assured travelrs that the new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units are safe and secure, and described pat-down measures for those who refuse AIT scans. According to Matt Drudge, this means “The Terrorists Have Won!”

To follow up, Napolitano also held a press conference this morning to answer questions about the policies. Video after the jump.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano popped into Good Morning America this week to discuss what her department was doing to prevent further terrorist plots against the U.S. They’re waiting for tips, building partnerships and… watching Keith Olbermann? “We’re always leaning forward,” Napolitano said, echoing MSNBC’s Lean Forward campaign.

Tonight on the Factor, Bill O’Reilly welcomed President Barack Obama’s homeland security chief, Janel Napolitano, on for a grilling. And though most might think “fireworks!” when hearing an Obama Cabinet member appeared on Fox News, the O’Reilly-Napolitano conversation was notable mostly for the lack thereof.

Homeland Security Chief (and former Arizona Governor) Janet Napolitano made a guest appearance in today’s White House Press Briefing, and was asked about the issue of birthright citizenship and efforts to consider repealing the 14th Amendment as a means to reform illegal immigration. The issue has been in the news a fair amount lately, particularly [...]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sparked new controversy over Arizona’s so-called “Show me your papers” law when her announcement (during a June 8 interview on Ecuadoran TV) that the Department of Justice would be suing the state of Arizona reached Governor Jan Brewer last week. The debate carried over to ABC’s This Week, where Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren (who sparred with Mediaite over the issue on Friday) made an excellent point.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and TV personality Sarah Palin have thrown down the gauntlet in an epic smackdown of opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law that allows officers to ask for identification when probable cause of illegal immigrant status exists. Enlisting the help of Kermit one of those frogs Lady Gaga wore as a dress once, they’ve created an instructional children’s sing-along to teach kids that reading is good!– which is why opponents of the Arizona law just don’t do it.

With all the controversy surrounding the illegal immigration bill she signed several weeks ago, it’s surprising we haven’t seen more of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. She came out swinging on Thursday in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, accusing the federal government of negligence with the illegal immigration and expressing frustration at the lack of communication between Phoenix and Washington.