The CIA knew

The Macon County Conservative Examiner ^ | 12/30/09 | Robert Moon

[rbg81]

My guess is that the CIA operatives at the tip of the spear are worried about being prosecuted if they do something un-PC. As a result, they sit on their hands unless they get the right signals from above. Even then, they move cautiously to cover their butts.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think you are correct.

[andy58-in-nh]

It’s not the field guys - it’s the senior analysts who shy away from making politically sensitive threat assessments and directors who fear recommending actions that might end their careers if they are proven wrong.

[rbg81]

Perhaps, you are correct. But my larger point is: someone in the chain (low-mid level) is sitting on their hands because they are afraid for their careers, or worse.

[andy58-in-nh]

That's exactly how it happens. Bureaucratic paralysis is not uncommon, but as applied to intelligence services in a time of war, it can be deadly. The primary task of a leader in that event is to identify the source of fear/uncertainty/doubt and remove it. What do you do, though if the leader is the one causing the problem?

[pnh102]

Last time I checked the CIA was not in charge of airport security in Amsterdam. What else could they have done? Kill the guy? With 0bama in charge? No one is going to take that risk.

[HD1200]

Exactly correct.

Another tipster said the Obama people have let it be known they won’t tolerate “profiling” Muslims during his term so everybody is pulling back and just holding their breath waiting for the hammer to drop, something that almost did on 12/25/09, the birthday of our Lord.

[surfer]

From Audacity of Hope: ‘I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.’

[gov_bean_ counter]

During the Bush administration a person's associations mattered in assessing threat risk. Apparently that dynamic is now given little or no weight.

[decimon]

Everything is now under Homeland Security. Does CIA have any autonomy? Who makes decisions to act or not?

[Blado]

This was apparently a lesbian-caused disaster.

[thethirddegree]

Well, it did involve a crotch rocket.

[night reader]

It’s not the field guys - it’s the senior analysts who shy away from making politically sensitive threat assessments and directors who fear recommending actions that might end their careers if they are proven wrong.

Or even if they are proven right!

[andy58-in-nh]

Good point.

[KarlInOhio]

The CIA has apparently known since November that a Nigerian terrorist was planning to blow up a plane on Christmas Day, but simply did nothing.

I have never, ever heard that they had this specific of intelligence. All I knew is that his father reported to the US embassy that his son had become a Koran-thumping whack job, not that there was a specific date that he was planning to blow up an airplane.

[Eagle Eye]

Does anyone yet know what the Nigerian father actually said to the embassy staff?

It makes a huge difference if his concerns were vague and general or detailed and specific.

[Eagle Eye]

I have never, ever heard that they had this specific of intelligence.

Be careful of trying to determine some facts before pointing fingers or else you could become unpopular and the target of being an obama/muslim/terrorist sympathizer.

[Broker]

Current conduct of US Gov employees reminds us the Carter era GAFFers. Short for Give A Flying F........

Knowing Obama and his minions; who wouldn't be a GAFFER?

[andy58-in-nh]

From CNN (to their credit, they have really been on this story):

"The father of terrorism suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab talked about his son's extremist views with someone from the CIA and a report was prepared, but the report was not circulated outside the agency, a reliable source told CNN's Jeanne Meserve on Tuesday."

"Had that information been shared, the 23-year-old Nigerian who is alleged to have bungled an attempt to blow up a jetliner as it was landing in Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day might have been denied passage on the Northwest Airlines flight, the source said."

"U.S. officials said the father, a former Nigerian banker, expressed his concerns about his son's radicalization during at least one meeting and several calls with officials at the embassy in Nigeria."

"The information on AbdulMutallab had been sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated, the source said."