Feb 01 Sen. Collins Demolishes Obama Administration

This weekend, Sen. Susan Collins utterly demolished the Obama administration's handling of Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Here's the transcript of Sen. Collins delivering the GOP's weekly radio address:

Less than one hour. That's right, less than one hour. In fact, just fifty minutes. That's the amount of time that the FBI spent questioning Abdulmutallab, the foreign terrorist who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. Then, he was given a Miranda warning and a lawyer, and, not surprisingly, he stopped talking.

How did we get to this point? How did the Obama administration decide to treat a foreign terrorist, who had tried to murder hundreds of people, as if he were a common criminal?

On Christmas Day, the skies above Detroit became a battleground in the War on Terrorism. That day the bomb being carried by Abdulmutallab failed to detonate. Thanks to the courageous action of the passengers and crew, nearly 300 lives were saved on the plane and more lives were spared on the ground.

The government's security system, a front line in the war against terrorists, failed long before Abdulmutallab boarded his flight to the United States. It failed when his visa wasn't revoked, even though his father had warned our embassy in Nigeria about his son's ties to Islamic extremists. It failed when the intelligence community was unable to connect the dots that would have placed Abdulmutallab on the terrorist watchlist. It failed when this terrorist stepped on to the plane in Amsterdam with the same explosive used by the 'Shoe Bomber,' Richard Reid, more than 8 years ago.

But, today, I want to discuss another failure, a failure that occurred after Abdulmutallab had already been detained by authorities in Detroit, an error that undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to our country.

This failure occurred when the Obama Justice Department unilaterally decided to treat this foreign terrorist as an ordinary criminal. Abdulmutallab was questioned for less than one hour before the Justice Department advised him that he could remain silent and offered him an attorney at our expense. Once afforded the protection our Constitution guarantees American citizens, this foreign terrorist 'lawyered up' and stopped talking.

When the Obama administration decided to treat Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, it did so without the input of our nation's top intelligence officials. The Director of National Intelligence was not consulted. The Secretary of Defense was not consulted. The Secretary of Homeland Security was not consulted. The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center was not consulted.

They would have explained the importance of gathering all possible intelligence about Yemen, where there is a serious threat from terrorists whose sights are trained on this nation. They would have explained the critical nature of learning all we could from Abdulmutallab. But they were never asked.

Sen. Collins isn't the only critic of the Obama administration's interrogation of Abdulmutallab. Gen. Michael Hayden wrote an op-ed criticizing the Obama administration:

In the 50 minutes the FBI had to question him, agents reportedly got actionable intelligence. Good. But were there any experts on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the room (other than Abdulmutallab)? Was there anyone intimately familiar with any National Security Agency raw traffic to, from or about the captured terrorist? Did they have a list or photos of suspected recruits?

When questioning its detainees, the CIA routinely turns the information provided over to its experts for verification and recommendations for follow-up. The responses of these experts, "Press him more on this, he knows the details" or "First time we've heard that", helps set up more detailed questioning.

None of that happened in Detroit. In fact, we ensured that it wouldn't. After the first session, the FBI Mirandized Abdulmutallab and, to preserve a potential prosecution, sent in a "clean team" of agents who could have no knowledge of what Abdulmutallab had provided before he was given his constitutional warnings. As has been widely reported, Abdulmutallab then exercised his right to remain silent.

The first priority of any administration, as demanded by the presidential oath of office, is to protect its citizens. If this administration was serious about preventing future terrorist attacks, the first step it would take is gather as much information as possible as quickly as possible from captured terrorists. It's best to think of a terrorist's information like a jar of unrefrigerated mayonnaise: it'll be useless relatively quickly so it's best to make as much use of it ASAP.

The Obama administration didn't maximize the intel opportunity given by Abdulmutallab's capture. Instead of interrogating him after getting him treated in the hospital, the Obama administration gave him the option of shutting up. This shouldn't have been an option. PERIOD.

Gen. Hayden's op-ed indicates that it's Obama administration policy to tie the CIA's hands:

Two days after his inauguration, President Obama issued an executive order that limited all interrogations by the U.S. government to the techniques authorized in the Army Field Manual. The CIA had not seen the final draft of the order, let alone been allowed to comment, before it was issued. I thought that odd since the order was less a legal document; there was no claim that the manual exhausted the universe of lawful techniques; than a policy one: These particular lawful techniques would be all that the country would need, at least for now.

This administration hasn't proven that it'll do everything possible to gather the information needed to prevent terrorist attacks. The Bush administration's first priority was preventing the next terrorist attack. This administration's first priority apparently is to prove to the world that we're good global citizens.

Sen. Collins isn't a right wing ideologue. She wasn't the Bush administration's shill. Her points, along with Gen. Hayden's op-ed, offer an important opposing viewpoint on the Obama administration's mishandling of the Abdulmutallab interrogation opportunity.

It's time that this administration stopped 'admitting' that "the system failed" and started admitting that their policies aren't maximizing our intel gathering opportunities.

Comments welcome at LFR.