*(old nfo)

COURAGE

Courage does not always shout . . . Sometimes it is a very quiet voice at the end of the day saying . . . I will try again tomorrow.

Rev 22:20 "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"

Friday, January 8, 2010

And the Answer is . . .

  
While reading a CNS News article today I was struck by a statement by Janet Napolitano. No, not the “system worked” statement. That’s been kicked to death. This statement was a response to the declassified report issued by the White House yesterday. The report came in preparation for yet one more sorry excuse for why the government failed to prevent Umar Farouk Abdulmutallb’s terror plot from going as far as it did, presented by the guy with the recent Hawaiian tan. The guy who said words like, “The preponderance of the intelligence related to the plot was available broadly to the intelligence community.” Well, duh.

But I digress. Included in the report was a question: “what was the most shocking, stunning thing that you found” (That’s a direct quote.)

Does this sound like one of the questions posed to a Miss America candidate? “Tell me, Miss Muffy from the great state of Virginia, what do you feel is the most important thing you can do during your tenure as Miss America?”

“Well, Mr. Lopez, I want to travel to all the third-world countries, feed all the starving children, stop all the wars and rebuild Detroit.”

Janet Napolitano’s answer to “What was the most shocking and stunning thing that you found?”

“the tactic of using an individual to foment an attack, as opposed to a large conspiracy or a multi-person conspiracy such as we saw in 9/11 -- that is something that affects intelligence. It really emphasizes now the renewed importance on how different intelligence is integrated and analyzed, and threat streams are followed through. And again, it will impact how we continue to review the need to improve airport security around the world.”

I read it once. Then again. Then a third time. Aside from all those big words and absolute meaningless of most of them, I was completely taken aback by the one word “individual” in her answer.

Excuse me, Ms Nap, but do you remember Richard Reid, the individual who tried detonating a bomb in his shoe on board Flight 63 in December, 2001? How about Abdulhakim Muhammad, the individual who opened fire at a Marine recruiting station in Arkansas last June 1, killing one young soldier and wounding the other. Then there’s Nidal Malik Hasan the individual who shot and killed thirteen unarmed people at Fort Hood in November.

I suppose that, because most of these individuals don’t bring along their instructors, imams or camels and show up with prayer rugs tucked under their arms, they aren’t something worthy of scrutiny. Apparently our Director of Homeland Security believes all terrorists travel in packs, like cigarettes. What is she really saying, if anything? Why would she make such a brainless statement unless she simply isn’t counting these incidents as acts of terrorism? She’s already demonstrated to the American people that she is incapable of thinking on her feet, a terrifying concept when considering the gravity of her job.

What was the most shocking and stunning thing that you found?


Love

Granny

1 comment:

Old NFO said...

"note a failure to “identify, correlate and fuse into a coherent story all of the discrete pieces"...

The simple answer is- Because none of the analysts wanted to make a 'call' without irrefutable (CYA type) data, because they are afraid of losing their jobs, so they buck everything questionable up the chain...