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Security System Failed, Napolitano Acknowledges [Newly Released Pic of Abdul]
NYTimes ^ | December 28, 2009 | Eric Lipton & Scott Shane

Posted on 12/28/2009 9:46:48 AM PST by Steelfish

Security System Failed, Napolitano Acknowledges ERIC LIPTON and SCOTT SHANE

December 28, 2009 WASHINGTON — The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said Monday that the thwarted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner represented a failure of the nation’s aviation security system, not the success she and other administration officials had portrayed in comments over the weekend.

[Pic in URL] An undated handout photo of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the thwarted bombing, was made available by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Ms. Napolitano said Monday on NBC’S “Today” that her remark the day before — “the system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days” — had been taken out of context. “Our system did not work in this instance,” she said. “No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.”

As criticism mounted that security lapses had led to a brush with disaster on the Christmas holiday, President Obama ordered a review on Sunday of the two major planks of the aviation security system — watch lists and detection equipment at airport checkpoints. Some members of Congress urgently questioned why, more than eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks, security measures could not keep makeshift bombs off airliners.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abdulmutallab; ericlipton; islam; jihad; muslims; terrorism; waronterror
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To: Steelfish

What the hell are these people doing anyway? What are they being paid to do? Sit on their hands? How come each time something happens they have to have an investigation into what went wrong? For God’s sakes woman....do your job!!! You are certainly being well compensated for your job and your title so...why arent’ you on top of everything? Who is running the show anyway????
Just DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!! If you are not capable then for God’s sakes step down and let someone who can take it over. One of these days we are going to lose a lot more people because of the incompetencies of those “supposedly” in charge and keeping us safe.
Bring back George Bush. he may not have done everything right but on the War on Terror he was on top of his game and RESPECTED because he gave the terrorists what for and didn’t want to sit down and have tea and crumpets with them.
They are out to KILL US ALL. What in thee hell else do we have to know about that?????? They want us dead and yet we treat them with full health care (which our own people will have to fight for when they get sick)when they are wounded in an attempt like the other day LESS we hurt someone’s feelings. To hell with that. WAKE UPPPPPP AMERICA!!!! We are fighting for our very survival!!!


21 posted on 12/28/2009 10:06:51 AM PST by cubreporter (.)
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To: Pharmboy
There are several different ethnic/racial strains in Sudan. This kid looks like he could grow up to be our bomber. http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sudan/images/northern_gallery/sudanese_boy.jpg

His nose will be a little more hawk-like when he's grown, but he's close...apologies to the child.

22 posted on 12/28/2009 10:18:36 AM PST by heartwood
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To: Pharmboy

Dang I should have read down a little further.


23 posted on 12/28/2009 10:19:46 AM PST by heartwood
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To: Steelfish
There is another trans security problem that has not been discussed. Once a bomb carrier begins their attack, they have to mask their origins, where ever they acquired the bomb.

In this case Yemen.

If the bomber flies from a known jihadist haven, they will much more likely get searched.

If every country that originates a flight has a solid ability to stamp visas and passports, we can then track the bombers route.

In this case, the bomber flew from Yemen to Ethiopia to Ghana to Nigeria to Netherlands to Detroit, carrying the bomb the whole time, five security check opportunities, all defeated.

Why Ethiopia? Because it is easy to enter Ethiopia from Yemen with out ID or a visa, by claiming they are Somali.

Somalis are granted automatic entry to Yemen without passport, to make it easier for migrant workers to travel through the Middle East, and ID requirements are minimal.

Just like Mexicans coming to the US and getting driver's licenses and fake ID's.....Still happening here, can you imagine how easy it is to do in the Middle East/Africa?

Until every passenger on every international flight is required to have a legitimate passport that gets stamped, and a legitimate visa to enter the destination country we cannot stop the movement of jihadists and bombers.

Since Yemen is so accessible by boat from Somalia, Ethiopia and the Sudan, it has a deliberately open border that has allowed Yemen to make money being the "Labor Ready" capitol of the Middle East and Africa for ages, formerly the center of the slave trade that still operates.

24 posted on 12/28/2009 10:21:49 AM PST by gandalftb (OK State football: Cotton Bowl bound vs. Ole Miss......Go Cowboys!!!)
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To: heartwood
Ya sure...there is mixing everywhere, but the bomber looks like a typical western African while the Sudanese are usually more fine-featured like Ethiopians.
25 posted on 12/28/2009 10:27:59 AM PST by Pharmboy (The Stone Age did not end because they ran out of stones...)
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To: machogirl

The cachet of lost greatness and public humiliation really isn’t valued all that highly, but I suppose some of those ol’gals aren’t picky.


26 posted on 12/28/2009 10:34:16 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Steelfish

“Taken out of context”?!

CROWLEY: So, just to finish up on the question– I do want to talk to you about security measures — but do you think — has there been any evidence of the Al Qaida ties that this suspect has been claiming?

NAPOLITANO: Right now, that is part of the criminal justice investigation that is ongoing, and I think it would be inappropriate to speculate as to whether or not he has such ties.

What we are focused on is making sure that the air environment remains safe, that people are confident when they travel. And one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here. The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action. Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the Northwest Airlines flight. We instituted new measures on the ground and at screening areas, both here in the United States and in Europe, where this flight originated.

So the whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively went very smoothly.

http://tinyurl.com/yfu7agr


27 posted on 12/28/2009 10:35:11 AM PST by kcvl
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To: Steelfish

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano shifts her message from the Sunday shows. AP: ‘A day after saying the system worked, Napolitano backtracked, saying her words had been taken out of context. ‘Our system did not work in this instance,’ she said on NBC’s ‘Today’ show. ‘No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.’’

On CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ yesterday, she told Candy Crowley: ‘One thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked.’ On ABC’s ‘This Week’, she told Jake Tapper: ‘[O]nce the incident occurred, the system worked.’

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Napolitanos_reversal.html?showall


28 posted on 12/28/2009 10:36:24 AM PST by kcvl
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To: Steelfish

UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB

29 posted on 12/28/2009 10:38:55 AM PST by kcvl
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To: Steelfish

His father, a prominent Nigerian banker and former government official, warned the US embassy in Abuja in October that his son had developed radical views and might have travelled to Yemen. But officials did not revoke his two-year multiple-entry visa, which was issued in June 2008.

Ms Napolitano meanwhile said the aviation security system had worked “very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days”, prompting widespread criticism from members of Congress and counter-terrorism experts.

But in interviews with US media on Monday, the homeland security secretary said her comment had been taken out of context and that she had instead been referring to the system of notifying other flights as well as law enforcement on the ground about the incident.

“And that’s why we are asking - how did this individual get on the plane? Why wasn’t the explosive material detected? What do we need to do to change?”

Ms Napolitano told CNN that she something had gone “awry” when someone like Mr Abdulmutallab did not have his visa revoked and was allowed to fly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8432934.stm


30 posted on 12/28/2009 10:41:27 AM PST by kcvl
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To: Huskrrrr

Detroit plane fiasco shows $50B intelligence machine is NOT working; Feds must step up fight

The system worked, in the cover-your-backside world of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Baloney.

The system worked, if you don’t count the parts that deal with airport security and screening, and the $50 billion intelligence apparatus that is supposed to keep track of terrorists and terror wanna-bes.

No, Janet, none of that stuff had anything to do with the happy ending for Flight 253. What worked was sheer luck, combined with the incompetence of the undies bomber and the true grit of the passengers and flight attendants.

What should be working now, but isn’t, is a sense of urgency from the nation’s leaders that they are trying to fix the problems, and that begins with President Obama.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/12/28/2009-12-28_its_past_time_for_the_feds_to_stop_the_pr__kayo_terror.html#ixzz0b0iQ7xUe


31 posted on 12/28/2009 10:45:28 AM PST by kcvl
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To: muawiyah

Hey, my former Guv is one of DC’s “top 20 singles”. (yuck)


32 posted on 12/28/2009 11:13:48 AM PST by machogirl (First they came for my tagline.)
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To: machogirl

Homeland Nappy sez: "The system worked. . . . No, wait! The system FAILED! Of course. . . . It didn't work, it failed. Bigtime. My words were taken out of context. . . . Yeah, and we're, uh, we're undertaking a comprehensive review--a COMPREHENSIVE . . . REVIEW--of all the, uh, policies and procedures that we inherited from THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION, and, uh. . . . OUR system will really WORK!"

33 posted on 12/28/2009 11:24:14 AM PST by Charles Henrickson (The system worked.)
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To: Charles Henrickson

She only looks SLIGHTLY more feminine than Baghdad Bob.


34 posted on 12/28/2009 11:37:20 AM PST by machogirl (First they came for my tagline.)
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To: Pharmboy

He looks better in orange.


35 posted on 12/28/2009 2:17:59 PM PST by matt1234
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