Interview : Chertoff: I'm Listening to the Internet (Not in a Bad Way)

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff sat down with Threat Level on Monday in Silicon Valley to talk about laptop searches at the border, the government's new-found interest in computer security, and the continuing saga of overeager terrorist watch lists.

Among the revelations: It seems blog comments inspired him to propose a laptop-tracking application for those who had their computers seized at the border. He also explained why watch-list mismatches are the airlines' fault, and why the government is too secret.