There's one thing you can say right away about DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. It's clear that she is moving quickly and letting no issue squeak by her. In one of her latest policy announcements, Napolitano endorsed the use of body scanners to screen airport passengers even if the machines generate images of people under their clothing.

Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that body scanners are less intrusive and easier to do than the traditional "pat downs" by airport security screeners. The Transportation Security Administration plans to use the scanners in place of some metal detectors at Tulsa, Okla., San Francisco, Miami and Las Vegas.

Napolitano told the House committee that the technology "seems to be very promising at the least," and that the main issue in deciding how to use the machines "is going to be, can we make it more rapid, so we don't have lines at airports."

But the new policy has raised the concerns of the American Civil Liberties Union. The civil rights group says the machines perform "a virtual strip-search" and the government might eventually seek to use them at train stations, arenas and office buildings.

For more on DHS and airport scanners:
- check out this USA Today article
- also see Napolitano's testimony

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