Remember what Obama was doing when the HIG was failing?The Obama administration is being hammered on many fronts - the economy, the results of the Massachusetts Senate race and the possible death of ObamaCare, to name a few - but let's not forget about the fail-tastic job they are doing when it comes to homeland security.
The latest failure is the High Value Interrogation Group - or HIG - that was created by President Obama to signal a clean break from the Bush administration policies on dealing with suspected terrorists. It seems the HIG isn't firing on all cylinders:
Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday that officials botched the handling of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of working with a Yemen-based offshoot of al Qaeda to try to bring down the Detroit-bound jet carrying 290 passengers and crew.In his testimony Wednesday, Mr. Blair said the HIG "was created exactly for this purpose—to make a decision on whether a certain person who's detained should be treated as a case for federal prosecution or for some of the other means."
He added: "We did not invoke the HIG in this case; we should have."
Source: Wall Street Journal
Later in the day, Blair backed off his comments slightly:
Later in the day, Mr. Blair issued a statement saying his comments were "misconstrued." "The FBI interrogated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when they took him into custody," his statement said. "They received important intelligence at that time, drawing on the FBI's expertise in interrogation that will be available in the HIG once it is fully operational," he said, referring to the High-Value Interrogation Group.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Why would someone as intelligent and well-informed as the director of national intelligence make such a damning statement about the HIG, only to back off the statement later in the day? And why would he include a qualifier like "once it is fully operational?"
Answer: Because the HIG - a task force created by President Obama - FAILED.
You see, the HIG had no procedures in place to deal with Abdulmutallab when he carried out his attack on December 25, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The chairwoman [Diane Feinstein (D-CA)] and vice chairman [Kit Bond (R-MO)] of the Senate Intelligence Committee said after a closed-door briefing Thursday that a panel announced by the Obama administration in August to decide how to treat potential terror suspects was still not operational as of Dec. 25.The HIG wasn't prepared to deal with the situation, despite having at least three months to prepare for an event that should have been dealt with on day one of the Obama administration.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Is this another case of dithering in the face of national security threats? Perhaps. But let's not overlook incompetence as a potential factor. Then again, anything is possible whenever Eric Holder is involved:
All seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder seeking to learn who made the decision to treat Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused Christmas Day terrorist bomber, as a criminal suspect rather than an enemy combatant. On the same day he tried to detonate a bomb aboard a Northwest Airlines plane in Detroit, Abdulmutallab, who was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen, was informed of his Miranda right to remain silent and given a government-paid lawyer. He then refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
Source: Washington Examiner
With administration officials like this, who needs terrorists?
