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Despite the hope and change brought along with a new administration, Americans discovered in 2009 that the threat of terrorism remained. There were several near disasters this last year along with a couple of actual man-caused disasters. While creating the following list I was surprised by the large number of arrests on American soil. I assume my surprise is due to the fact that the media generally forgets about these incidents within a very short period of time and does not make any attempt to report them as another piece of a larger puzzle. - On May 20, 2009 three...

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) on Tuesday became the first lawmaker to call on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to resign after the recent attempted airline bombing. The veteran member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee called for Napolitano's ouster in the wake of the attack on the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. Earlier this year, some Republicans called on Napolitano to step down after her agency issued a report warning of the dangers of right wing "extremists." Burton made his remarks on Twitter: Secretary Janet Napolitano should resign, saying ‘the system worked,’ undermines the confidence of Americans #redin #tcot

First she said "the system worked". Now, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admits the system failed miserably, but repeatedly points out it was a system put in place while George W. Bush was President. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made similar statements...

The US homeland security secretary has demanded to know how the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet had a visa despite being on a watch list. "We all want to know the answer to that question," Janet Napolitano said. She also appeared to backtrack on a widely criticised assertion that the aviation security system had worked. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested after he allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on board a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday. A hearing before a federal judge in the city scheduled for Monday, at which prosecutors...

(24/3/09) The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the phrase "global war on terror," a signature rhetorical legacy of its predecessor. In a memo e-mailed this week to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department's office of security review noted that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror' [GWOT.] Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.' ..."

It took a tough question from Matt Lauer, but after having laughably claimed that "the system worked," Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano has now conceded the obvious: that the security system that permitted Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board NWA 253 with explosives "failed miserably." On Today and in other interviews this morning, Napolitano attempted to use her own ignorance as a shield. Each time she was hit with a hard question, her response was to the effect "yeah, we're wondering about that ourselves." She also continued to point the finger back at the Bush administration, repeatedly mentioning that the security procedures...

VS. WHO: Yeffet Isaac, Former Director of El-Al Airlines Security -VS.- Ibrahim Hooper Executive Director of C.A.I.R.WHAT: A Well Overdue DEBATEWHEN: As Soon As PossibleWHERE: LIVE NATIONWIDE on American TV, CNN, FOX, Major Networks, Radio Stations, NPR, etc., With Studio Audience Able to Ask QuestionsWHY: America dodged a major bullet on Christmas Day in Detroit. Reports are that additional terrorist acts involving US airliners are probably on the way. El-Al has a clean record of never being attacked by Islamist Extremists. C.A.I.R. has stated that the US should not, at all costs, racially and religiously profile passengers in the...

An attempted jihad attack on Christmas Day has revealed that Americans are much more vulnerable to such attacks than most have believed – while government officials whistle in the dark. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 just before it landed in Detroit. In response, Barack Obama chose not to cut short his golfing vacation in Hawaii; the White House announced that he would “likely” have something to say about this latest attempted jihad attack on U.S. soil “in the next few days.” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano...

COPS fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners. The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen. It was there London-educated Umar Abdulmutallab, 23, prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet. The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London. They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike. A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of...

Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano either doesn't get it, or is dumber than toast. Today President Obama's choice to protect us from terrorism appeared on CNN and proved that she does not belong in her position. Napolitano, said it was too early to speculate on the claims of Al Qaeda connections made by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian held in connection with the incident. After his arrest in Detroit, Abdulmutallab said he had obtained a specialized explosive chemical compound and a syringe sewn into his underwear from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with the terror network, according...

Interview with Chicago Fire Chief Alden Brown two days after the Great Chicago Fire: ALDEN BROWN: One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here: the local citizens took appropriate action. Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 towns and villages in the Chicago area had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred in Chicago. We instituted new measures on the ground, both in central Chicago and at Mrs. O'Leary's barn, where the fire originated. So the whole process...

By now everyone knows about the attempt by a Jihadist from Nigeria to set off a bomb in an airliner above Detroit. But what many of us may not have been aware of is the fact that our nation’s transportation security systems worked just fine to prevent the terrorist from completing his Islamikaze mission. Or so says already-disgraced Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano This is just the latest in a series of incredibly stupid policies and mistakes made by this woman since she took office.

WASHINGTON, D.C. A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called for “swift justice” in the attempted bombing Friday of a Northwest Airlines flight arriving in Detroit. Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told the Detroit Free Press that he was grateful the alleged bomber did not succeed in his attack. A Nigerian man has been charged with attempting to destroy the plane after he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb as it was arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam. SEE: Local Nigerian Muslims Condemn Attack (Detroit Free Press)...

(CNN) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday there was no indication so far that an alleged botched terror attack on a U.S. airliner was part of a broad international effort. "Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger," Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union" program. A lone suspect is accused of trying to ignite an explosive device on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day. The device apparently failed to detonate and the suspect was subdued. Napolitano said the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was on...

Fire Napolitano [Jonah Goldberg] Understandbly, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the "system worked" because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was "foiled" by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest...

Man on Flight to Detroit Claims al Qaeda Ties; Father Warned U.S. Officials WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has "no indication" that an attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight was part of a larger plot by a terrorist group, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger, but obviously the investigation continues," she said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday. A 23-year-old Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was charged on Saturday with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest airliner on Christmas Day. Passengers said the...

A few reflections on the terrorist attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253: 1. What happened to “man-caused disasters”? I thought that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told us that we weren’t going to call it terrorism anymore? Or is the response to the Christmas Day terror attempt a sign (just like the Nobel acceptance speech) that the administration is finally embracing reality after the hopey-changey first few months? In fact, unlike in the case of the Fort Hood attack, there also has been no hesitancy from the press to call this latest incident terror. Why the difference? I’m guessing that, as...

The Obama administration promised Sunday to review security procedures at airports and the government's system for checking suspicious travelers after an alleged terrorist bent on destroying a jetliner came close to succeeding. An apparent malfunction in a device designed to detonate the high explosive PETN may have been all that saved the 278 passengers and the crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. No undercover air marshal was on board and passengers subdued the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria.Abdulmutallab was hospitalized with burns from the attack and was read an indictment filed Saturday in federal court in...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday there was no indication so far that a botched terror attack on a U.S. airliner was part of a broad international effort. "Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger," Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union" program. A lone suspect allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day. The device apparently failed to detonate and the suspect was subdued. Napolitano said the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was on a broad security watch...

Homeland Chief Napolitano on terrorist attempt stopped by passengers: 'The System Worked' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V_Godcyq-s