Posted on 01/07/2010 8:03:37 PM PST by Bigtigermike
It could be said that the U.S. government can run by remote control. On the day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest airline flight headed for Detroit, several key government players were on holiday and didn't immediately return to their posts in Washington, D.C.
President Obama was on vacation in Hawaii, golfing and enjoying time with his family. He returned to the White House on Jan. 4.
A source told CBS News that Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, was on holiday in Monterey, Calif. when Abdulmutallab was apprehended, and didn't return to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. until the weekend following Jan. 1.he CIA maintained that Panetta's absence from Langley was not a problem. "While we don't comment on the Director's whereabouts, wherever he is—and at every moment of every day—he has the ability to communicate instantly and securely with anyone he needs to be in touch with," a CIA spokesman said.
In addition, Stephen Kappes, CIA deputy director, reportedly didn't see the need to return to CIA headquarters from his vacation despite the major intelligence community failure. He returned to Washington, D.C. just after the Khost bombing on Dec. 30 that killed seven CIA officers.
And, the White House has been busy today putting its support behind National Counterterrorism Director Michael Leiter, who decided it would be acceptable to go on a six-day vacation with his 7-year-old son the day after Abdulmutallab's attempted bombing.
John Brennan, the president's chief counterterrorism adviser, said he authorized Leiter to take the vacation time after concluding that Leiter had a "full complement" of people and deputies to deal with the situation and that he "deserved" the vacation.
Denis McDonough, National Security Staff Chief of Staff, chimed in that Leiter's vacation "did not affect in any way his ability to remain engaged with all elements of the United States Government."
Populated with welfare recipients & socialist RATs? We could only hope for such a miracle!!!
0 responded more quickly to his friends’ son’s beach bobo than he did the panty bomber.
Hillary went to the North Pole, deep cover, she probably knew more than most. Maybe she’s still there, no one misses her
In all honesty, the deputy heads of these alphabet agencies who remain at their posts over the holidays are more than capable of doing what needs to be done. The bosses all have secure comms, the President has the Football, and do we really want the terrs to know how to get all the VIPs back into DC on short notice? Now if the attack had succeeded, or the President was going to waterboard the terr himself, then it might be different.
I dislike this Obama administration as much or more than anyone else. However, I find it to be really silly for the news media and bloggers to be throwing rocks at them for not rushing back to their offices from their Christmas vacations because of the crotch bomber that failed in his terriorist attempt.
The One, his handlers and his department heads were able to communicate between each other and with their subordinates. Being physically in D.C. or not had no bearing on decisions that could have been and were made.
Jumping on the fact that so many were not in D.C. is just so much BS, like the MSM used to do everytime GW Bush would go to the ranch in Texas and claim he was “on vacation”; while he was always in contact with administration personnel throughout the world and working on US business probably more hours than he spent cutting brush.
That’s why Obamo wouldn’t blame anyone....they wasn’t anyone Home....vacated their posts is an understatement.
No excuse, they signed on to the job and it doesn’t mean vacation time is your time when the nations at risk. They should have all been brought back to their watch....most of all BO.
Yet Bush was criticized incessantly and mercilessly by the media and the talking heads for immediately flying over New Orleans after Katrina (after begging the mayor and the governor - neither of whom listened to him - to order mandatory evacuation and call the Nat’l Guard forward) and the levees broke (levees adminstered and run by the rats for years and who did NOTHING about fixing them because of the controlling rats siphoning off of levee repair funds to corrupt self-enrichment scams) instead of landing at the airport, which would have shut down the airport for hours and backed up aid, personnel and supplies from getting in.
I’m so sick of this I really can’t take much more.
It is customary to use the original title so that searches by others will prevent double posting.
I am not buying the fact that we narrowly escape another terrorist attack and NO ONE returned to DC?????
What are they not telling us? Was DC a target?
Did we dodge a bigger bullet?" <<<
Ding! Ding!! DING!!!
We have a winner!
Step right up HERE, folks -- we have a WINNER!!
However, I am now curious if there was inside gossip about all the chatter about suicide attacks that intel was picking up and that's why D.C. seemed to shut down this holiday.
You seem to think that it's typical for that many people to go on holiday vacation from D.C. every single late December???
I agree with you. Yesterday morning, VERY early, on NPR, I heard a small story claiming that the Department of State doesn't share information with the CIA, that the Department of State is SECRETIVE, that the Department of State has a "kind-of" working relationship with the DHS, but WON'T SHARE or WORK WITH the CIA.
I remember wondering, just where is THAT stance coming from? And I believe you have answered my confusion.
Reminds one of Tet.
Closer than you think!
Was it anything like reading to second graders???
Personally, I am of the total belief that the Dept of State is ULTIMATELY and INTIMATELY responsible for this. Period.
They had it all. They could, and should, have revoked the bloomer bomber’s passport back when Britain refused him a visa. They didn’t.
They could, and should, have revoked his visa when his own father told the US EMBASSY THREE times that his son was a radical and might be on a terrorist mission. They didn’t.
More, much more.
The State Department is, and has been, complicit in bringing muslim terrorists into this country. It is, and has been, so islamicized, they are bringing in these people purposefully to further the islamic aganda, and they will NOT stop, nor will they be held accountable.
You have to understand, they are the elitists’ ENFORCERS. The elitists in this country have been foolish enough to think they can be controlled. They can’t.
Prepare for much more and much worse than this. Blaming the intellegence services is CYA for the state department.
Remember what happened when Able Danger TRIED to warn the government and the American public about 9/11. They tried to destroy those guys. They did destroy careers, including Curt Weldon’s.
No. It was more like considering a few hundred American deaths acceptable to this administration whose motto is “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Period.
They had it all. They could, and should, have revoked the bloomer bomber's passport back when Britain refused him a visa. They didn't.
They could, and should, have revoked his visa when his own father told the US EMBASSY THREE times that his son was a radical and might be on a terrorist mission. They didn't.
More, much more.
The State Department is, and has been, complicit in bringing muslim terrorists into this country." <<<<
It still is VERY peculiar for NPR to say anything negative about any part of the BHO administration, particularly about Foggy Bottom, which has a long history of a pro-Islamist, pro-Arab staff -- that's been going on for decades; and so too, has NPR's affection for State been ongoing for a long time.
The President sets the tone. We take our cue from him regardless of who the President is. I saw a man who could not be bothered, a man who told the world, “Yeah, but it didn't explode. No Problem.”
He needed to get in front of it and reassure the public that he was on top of it, he was monitoring it, and although he would not be returning XYZ is in DC blah blah.
It was obvious, they had no clue what they were dealing with, which is more reason for one or two vacations to be cut short.
I still cannot wrap my mind around it. Maybe it is just me. Two options:
1. No one gave a damn. Vacation time was more important
2. Chatter or intelligence gave suggested something might be in the works and all of them were more secure where they were.
/s
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