Inexcuseable!

When I heard about the Nigerian guy who tried to blow up a passenger jet on Christmas, I admit my first thought was “how’s Obama going to blame this on Bush?” Then I put politics aside and had a more disturbing thought. I remember watching “Good Morning Vietnam” more than 20 years ago. Part of Adrian Cronauer’s schtick was to make fun of military intelligence in such a way as to make them look like hapless idiots. Flash forward 20 years and you hear about some unidentified intelligence official stating to the Washington Post that there was no “magical piece of evidence” that would point to somebody blowing up an airplane on Christmas. He reminded me of the guy Adrian Cronauer was making fun of – you know, the guy who walks around the jungle asking anybody and everybody if they happened to be named “Charlie.” Does this unnamed intelligence guy expect someone to walk into his office and tell him the exact date, time and place of an attack? It sure sounds that way to me. Have our civilian intelligence professionals gotten that lazy? Did it not occur to them to pick up a secure phone and call around and ask questions? Or is that asking too much to do the job for which they are paid since the Obama Administration declared the Global War on Terrorism to be over? I’m sorry, but as a former intelligence professional, this explanation doesn’t pass the giggle test.

The other day I caught wind of a report that the CIA had some info about the possibility of a Nigerian national trying to pull a stunt like what Mr. Abdulmutallab did on Christmas. Prior to 9/11, the various agencies that gather intelligence [both foreign and domestic] for this country were unable to share information with each other. The wall of information sharing between law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies has since been torn down. What is the excuse for not “connecting the dots” this time?

What do we know about Mr. Abdulmutallab? We know he paid cash for his ticket – Red Flag #1. We know he paid for a one-way ticket with said cash – Red Flag #2. We know he didn’t check any luggage for his overseas flight – Red Flag #3. Some would suggest that I am merely being a Monday-morning quarterback, but consider the following. Up until a year ago, I found it a pain in the butt to fly on American Airlines. Why was this so? Because every time I checked in with that airline, my name popped up on a watch list. Apparently someone who shares my name has been doing some very naughty things, the result of which got me on a “no-fly” list. So, once my name popped up on this list, I’d have to provide identification so they could check my social security number. In each case the mistaken identity problem was fixed by someone conscientious enough to do the right thing. The point I’m trying to make here is that someone took notice of a “red flag” and did something about it. These people did their jobs! In the case of Mr. Abdulmutallab, there were three, maybe more red flags but no one seemed to do anything about them.

Do I blame President Obama on the latest security lapse? No. I truly hope that he can light a fire under someone’s ass, make them wake up, and actually have the intelligence and law enforcement agencies talk to one another. One would think that in the aftermath of 9/11, the days of “I’ve got a secret” would have ended a long time ago. Unfortunately, it’s becoming clear that some old habits die very hard. Mr. President, it’s your system now. Fix it!