When
President Obama took
office I had high
hopes for his
national security
team – Hillary
Clinton, Robert
Gates and Gen. Jim
Jones. But on the
homeland security
front it's been one
bungled effort after
another.
Remember when the
president promised
to shut Guantanamo
within his first
year in office?
Well, it’s been a
lot more difficult
than he thought, and
Gitmo's still open.
The Christmas Day
bomber saga is like
a keystone cops
movie. First, he was
babbling like a
brook. But after a
mere 50 minutes, the
Justice Department
stepped in and read
him Miranda rights,
including the ‘right
to remain silent.’
So he got lawyered
up, and shut up.
After withering
criticism, the White
House sent FBI sent
agents to Nigeria to
convince the
bomber’s parents to
come to the US and
convince him to
start talking again.
Never mind that his
six weeks of silence
has given Al Qaeda
plenty of time to
cover its tracks.
The New York terror
trials? Turns out
the Attorney General
announced they would
be in NYC without
bothering to consult
the mayor or police
chief, who think
they will be
expensive and
cumbersome and,
according to some,
put New Yorkers in
harms way.
These goof-ups are
more than a new
administration
getting its balance.
They’re indicative
of a bigger problem
– that much of our
homeland security
efforts are being
dictated by an
attorney general who
sees terrorists as
isolated extremists
and lone wolfs
better dealt with in
civilian courts with
all the rights of
citizens –than as
enemy combatants who
might have valuable
intelligence about
the next terrorist
attack.
Since our two top
intelligence
officials have now
warned there will be
another attempted
terrorist attack by
July, the president
needs to remember
that his primary
responsibility is to
protect the American
people and tell the
attorney general
either to get with
it or get out.
Kathleen Troia “KT”
McFarland served in
national security
posts in the Nixon,
Ford and Reagan
administrations. She
wrote Secretary of
Defense Weinberger’s
November 1984
"Principles of War
Speech" which laid
out the Weinberger
Doctrine. She is a
senior adviser to
the Foundation for
the Defense of
Democracies and a
frequent contributor
to the Fox Forum.
Watch "K.T." and
Mike Baker every
Monday at 10 a.m. on
FoxNews.com's
"DefCon3" already
one of the Web's
most watched
national security
programs.
