January 6, 2010Response to a Near Miss
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IN HIS FIRST extended public appearance since the Christmas Day bombing attempt, President Obama offered an acute -- and sobering -- diagnosis of the intelligence blunders that failed to stop Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding Northwest Flight 253. "The system has failed in a potentially disastrous way," he said. Mr. Obama's stern tone and scathing words were appropriate to the gravity of the situation. What was missing from yesterday's assessment, and what Mr. Obama promised would be quickly forthcoming, was a treatment plan: How the government intends to cure the chronic problem of unconnected dots and missed signals. Some of the same bureaucratic breakdowns that contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks, and that were supposed to have been addressed by reshuffling the... Related Topics: Barack Obama, flight 253 RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
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