This one makes me queasy. From USA Today:
White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel “a certain shock” when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.
President Obama “is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on,” Jones said in an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY.
“That’s two strikes,” Obama’s top White House aide on defense and foreign policy issues said, referring to the foiled bombing of the Detroit-bound airliner and the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. In that case, too, officials failed to act when red flags were raised about an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan. He has been charged with killing 13 people.
Jones said Obama “certainly doesn’t want that third strike, and neither does anybody else.” …
The Obama administration is taking my “Jack Ryan” advice, which I wrote about just last week: “Give them no place to go, nothing to report, no story.”
When you can’t hide bad news coming unload it. The openly honest transparent talk on terrorism from Jones in direct contrast to what we’ve seen from Republicans. We’ll have to wait to see if Pres. Obama and his team get credit for it.
That said, given the current atmosphere and critical mass on Democratic political incompetence, seen most readily through the health care debate. It’s worth mentioning that nobody ever got elected, let alone re-elected, by overestimating the American public’s intelligence on matters of national security, let alone tolerance on the nuances of candor. See George W. Bush v. John Kerry, circa 2004, with Carter v. Reagan the political foundation.
Thanks for this post Taylor. I hope the majority of Americans appreciate being treated like they are thinking adults.
I’m with you.
Did Jones seem faintly nervous to you in this interview? It seemed like he was distracted by a secret worry.
I don’t know if I’d use “nervous” for this man, but “distracted by a secret” concern seems apt.
ps-nice avatar, Sandman. Here’s how to get one for those interested.
Here’s a guy who should be nervous:
WASHINGTON – The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency’s “bat cave” nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.
“People have been grumbling that he didn’t let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation,” said one of the sources.
http://tinyurl.com/ydwsdfk
(TM.com supplied the tinyURL)
See Laura Rozen
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0110/Knives_out_for_NCTC_chief_.html
I don’t mind Obama staying in Hawaii – but I do mind this guy staying on vacation.
Being appointed by Bush will be more important in axing him than any fraternal kinship to Obama by being President of the Harvard Law Review.
Thanks!
Agreed, ‘nervous’ generally isn’t the word used to describe someone like NSA James Jones, but when an individual of Jones’ nature shows hints of concern when talking to the public…it helps create those “queasy” feelings. High-ranking military personnel are masters at masking their emotions, it comes with the territory.
Yeahhh, outlook not-so-good for Mr. Leiter.
UPDATE: Just noticed a broken link in the post, which has now been corrected. It’s to the LA Times story today, which is as important as Jones, because it gives the context of his concern.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-airline-terror7-2010jan07,0,7706989.story
U.S. border security officials learned of the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day jetliner bombing attempt as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials disclosed Wednesday.
The new information shows that border enforcement officials discovered the suspected extremist ties involving the Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in a database despite intelligence failures that have been criticized by President Obama….
Taylor Marsh says:
07 January 2010 at 3:11 pm
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That would jive with what Jones said in his interview about “we know what the problem is, and we know how to fix it”. It was interesting to read that tidbit of info concerning the DefCon modeled tracking system Homeland Security uses to categorize possible threats.
I still can’t shake the feeling that there’s a piece missing to this puzzle.
djjl says:
07 January 2010 at 2:16 pm
Taylor Marsh says:
07 January 2010 at 2:17 pm
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Please! If Obama didn’t feel the need to alter his Christmas vacation plans, I don’t see why an underling should.
JoeChi
You KNOW I’m not “taking up” for Obama. It would be foolish for the POTUS – whoever it is at whatever time – to be yanked around by whatever situation arises. It’s the reason there are underlings – to do their job!
JoeCHI says:
07 January 2010 at 4:15 pm
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One has the job of consolidating information that the other requires before making any statements/decisions.
We don’t need shin kick’in just for the sake of shin kick’in.
JoeCHI says:
07 January 2010 at 4:15 pm
Heya JoeChi.
The comment to which you refer talks about “knives out” for the NCTC chief, nothing else.