 Terrorism adviser: No smoking gun in airliner plot
While various pieces of information on possible terror attacks stemming from al-Qaeda in Yemen floated throughout the intelligence community, there was no "smoking gun" that connected Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to any such activity, according to Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan.
Brennan said the "disparate bits and pieces of information," which included the warnings from Abdulmutallab's father in Nigeria about his son's activities, were not connected to provide solid evidence that the 23-year-old Abdulmutallab would attempt to bring down an airliner headed for Detroit on Christmas Day.
"There were a number of pieces that were out there, but for whatever reason, they weren't brought together," Brennan said. "We as a government need to make sure that we're able to bring those pieces together. Every day, there are millions of pieces of the puzzle that come together on many, many people."
Brennan insisted there were no turf battles between intelligence-gathering aspects of the U.S. government that got in the way of thwarting the attempt, as was the case after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He pointed to successful intelligence-sharing moments in the past year as proof that the system can work correctly, but didn't in Abdulmutallab's case.
"Najibullah Zazi, David Headley, other individuals that were captured" are examples of success, Brennan said. "The five guys ... from Northern Virginia. When their parents brought it to the attention of the FBI, that's exactly the way the system should work. We went out there, we contacted the Pakistani authorities. They're currently in prison. And what we're doing is trying to ensure that the system works as well in all these cases as in future events that come up."
The American and British embassies in Yemen were closed on Sunday due to reported terror threats from al-Qaeda.
"There are indications that al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against targets inside of Sana, possibly our embassy, and what we do is to take every measure possible to ensure the safety of our diplomats and citizens abroad," Brennan said.
Currently 90 Yemeni detainees remain at the American prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Nearly half are scheduled for release in Yemen soon. With the ties Abdulmutallab is alleged to have had with al-Qaeda in Yemen, the ties Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan had with an American-born cleric (Anwar al-Aulaqi) currently in Yemen and reports that former Gitmo detainees have returned to Yemen participate in terror activities, Brennan said Yemeni detainees will be dealt with in a careful manner.
"Many of them are going to be prosecuted, some under the Article III courts, and some under -- in military courts," he said. "Some of these individuals are going to be transferred back to Yemen at the right time and the right pace and in the right way."
On the decision to not call Abdulmutallab an enemy combatant, Brennan pointed to terror suspects, such as shoebomber Richard Reid, who were successfully tried in American civilian courts.
"We try to adapt the tools in the right way," Brennan said. "We are also a country of laws. This was an individual who was arrested on U.S. soil. If we decide at some point that we're going to charge and hold somebody under the enemy combatant status, it's a tool that is available to us. We made a decision to do this."
Kean: Distractions understandable but unacceptable Former New Jersey governor and former chairman of the 9/11 Commission Thomas Kean said Brennan's responses to questions about how Abdulmutallab was able to slip by the intelligence community were "defensive," and that hopefully this event will help the U.S. focus more on the threats coming from Yemen.
"He (Brennan) said there were pieces of information," Kean said. "He's absolutely right, but he's wrong when he says this wasn't like 9/11. Because what we pointed out in the report, again and again, is that there were a lot of pieces of information that, if they'd been put together, then we might have deterred that plot."
Kean believes the sheer fact that the attacker's father warned authorities should have been enough. He praised the intelligence community for their work to protect from such attacks, but he said it was unacceptable and he hopes the administraton has gotten a wake-up call now, as they were swamped amid other policy "distractions."
"And I say, that's understandable," he said of the various fronts the administration is focused on now. "I mean, heaven's sakes, if you're in this huge health care fight and worried about the economy and global warming and all that sort of thing, that's what they were concentrating on. And I think they weren't giving this enough attention. It's understandable, but it's not acceptable."
DeMint: Obama adm. not focused on safety Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) taunted the Obama administration for what he called ignoring a global war on terror, while Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) pointed to the various fronts, including an Afghan war that was largely put on the backburner for the fight in Iraq.
"Unlike a myopic focus on Iraq, this administration is going worldwide in this war and is focused on it," McCaskill said. "And I think it is unfair and, frankly, political to take pot shots at the president as we respond to this failure in our systems that we've got to get fixed."
DeMint insisted that not calling Abdulmutallab an enemy combatant and giving "the rights of an American and lawyers" may result in the loss of valuable intelligence. McCaskill alluded to the various terrorists that have been tried in American courts and now sit in maximum security prisons as proof that the American justice system will work.
Regarding the vacant spot atop the Transportation Security Administration, DeMint defended his opposition of Erroll Southers based on his concerns that Southers would "submit airport security to collective bargaining."
"The CIA, the FBI, the Coast Guard, the military, the Congress, none of the employees there can be under collective bargaining because of the need of constant flexibility as we're seeing now with airport security. Airport security does not need to go to union bosses at this time and get their permission to change their security protocol," DeMint said, adding that he shouldn't be blamed for the holdup of the nomination since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hasn't brought Southers to a vote on the Senate floor.
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