Jan 07 The Prince Of Hollow Words

Pundits nationwide have used the name of The One in reference to President Obama. After listening to his speech on how they'll improve airline security, I think a more appropriate nickname for him is the Prince Of Hollow Words. Here's what I'm talking about:

In our ever-changing world, America's first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared, integrated, analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively. That's what the intelligence reforms after the 9/11 attacks largely achieved. That's what our intelligence community does every day. But, unfortunately, that's not what happened in the lead-up to Christmas Day. It's now clear that shortcomings occurred in three broad and compounding ways.

I agree with President Obama's words. It's his actions that I question. If "America's first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared", which I believe it is, then why is it Obama administration policy to Mirandize terrorists upon capture? That doesn't make sense if they're putting a high priority on intelligence. Mirandizing terrorists, which they did with Abdulmutallab, gives the terrorist the legal right to stop giving us important information that might prevent other terrorist attacks.

This part of President Obama's statement stood out, too:

First, although our intelligence community had learned a great deal about the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that we knew that they sought to strike the United States and that they were recruiting operatives to do so, the intelligence community did not aggressively follow up on and prioritize particular streams of intelligence related to a possible attack against the homeland.

Simply put, that didn't happen during the post-9/11 Bush administration. They were great at connecting the dots because President Bush put a high priority on connecting the dots and protecting the American people. Thus far, the Obama administration gets a failing grade on gathering intel, mostly because they've put a higher priority on closing Gitmo than on gathering intel.

Sean Hannity often ridicules the Obama administration for calling terrorist attacks "man-caused disasters" and for calling the war on terror an "overseas contingency operation." He's right to highlight those things because it highlights a lack of intensity and focus on a potential life-and-death situation.

When Bill Clinton promised during the 1992 campaign that he'd "focus like a laser beam on the economy", people didn't question whether he was committed to repairing the economy. When President Bush addressed a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, he held a police officer's badge and said that he'd have it on his desk for the rest of his presidency as a reminder of the terrorist attacks.

In those administrations, people questioned the policies. They didn't question the commitment. In this administration, there's reason to question this administration's policies AND this administration's commitment.

Second, I'm directing that intelligence reports, especially those involving potential threats to the United States, be distributed more rapidly and more widely. We can't sit on information that could protect the American people.

Third, I'm directing that we strengthen the analytical process, how our analysis, how our analysts process and integrate the intelligence that they receive. My Director of National Intelligence, Denny Blair, will take the lead in improving our day-to-day efforts. My Intelligence Advisory Board will examine the longer-term challenge of sifting through vast universes of intelligence and data in our Information Age.

That's nice-sounding but it still leads to this question: If they're intent on making gathering intel our highest priority, why hasn't President Obama told Attorney Gen. Holder to stop Mirandizing terrorists? That's the only way the FBI can interrogate them and get the information we need to stop the next attack.

Until President Obama directs Attorney Gen. Holder to stop Mirandizing terrorists, I won't take President Obama's words seriously. The time for words is over. It's time for results.

Comments welcome at LFR.