Obama Lays Out Common-Sense Fixes to Appalling Breakdown of Security and IntelligencePresident Barack Obama didn't deliver the "shocking" national security update that many had anticipated going into Thursday's televised speech. But he did lay out an honest assessment of the breakdown that led to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 as it prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day. More important, the president spelled out common-sense fixes that, if executed, should plug at least some holes in the nation's security system. Obama accurately reported that U.S. intelligence and security agencies had all the information they should have needed to identify Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a terrorist threat and keep him off the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, but failed to act. That was a breakdown not so much in intelligence, but in putting the intelligence to use. The actions he laid out Thursday should help shake up the security establishment, which has bloated into an inefficient and lethargic bureaucracy since Sept. 11. In the future, Obama promised, he will assign specific responsibility for following every terrorist lead. Someone will be accountable, he said, for making sure valuable information doesn't fall through the cracks. He also vowed to improve the analysis of the data that's received. That's essential. Revealing e-mails intercepted prior to the Fort Hood massacre in November were never properly analyzed to determine whether Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was a serious terrorist threat. Information will be acted on more quickly, Obama said, and will be dispersed more widely throughout the intelligence and security agencies.
Finally, the president promised to beef up airport security and expand the no-fly list to included individuals who are considered lower-level threats. All these are good measures. It is essential that Obama maintain a sense of urgency to assure that they are properly implemented by the murky middle of the security bureaucracy. The president took responsibility for the failures and will not fire anyone in his administration for the breakdown. He should, however, evaluate the staffing to make sure the right individuals are in place. Obama has been criticized for backing away from the phrase "war on terror." Thursday, he acknowledged that the nation remains at war, calling it a "war on al-Qaida." That's true in many places, but not all. The war is actually against Islamic extremism that extends well beyond the al-Qaida outfit. He also promised not to allow the terror war to cost America its values. That's a vital goal. But it should not be one that keeps the president from re-evaluating the wisdom of trying terror suspects as criminals in civilian courts, where the ability is limited to mine them for information that could prevent future attacks, and where the security risks are greater. But it was encouraging to hear Obama affirm that the United States will continue to take the fight to Yemen and other terrorist havens. Disrupting and destroying terrorist organizations is as important as tightening security. Overall, it was a good response to a frightening failure of the security and intelligence establishments to keep a dangerous individual off a U.S. airplane. REPRINTED FROM THE DETROIT NEWS DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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