The dust-up started with a USA Today editorial entitled “Our view on war on terror: National security team fails to inspire confidence.” It featured this photo of a confused National Intelligence Director named Dennis Blair.
The bite was in the article’s subtitle: “Officials’ handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour.” That left a bruise.
The accompanying photo of Blair was excerpted from a video clip that featured his admission of a “Duh” moment surrounding the initial questioning of Christmas Day would-be bomber Abdulmutallab. Watch the grilling here:
The USAToday piece did everything except compare administration anti-terrorist officials to the Keystone Cops:
John Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism – the name plaque on his desk must be three feet long – was not happy with USAToday.
He wrote a rebuttal in the paper that began,
Politics should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe.
He eventually got to the requisite response from the Obama administration whenever it fields criticism: explicitly, or implicitly, blame Bush.
The most important breakthrough occurred after Abdulmutallab was read his rights, which the FBI made standard policy under Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s attorney general…Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.
So, is Brennan accusing the USA Today of “politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering?”
Is the paper the next target of administration scorn, a la FOX News?
And, didn’t a prominent Democrat once say we have a patriotic right to disagree with any administration?
And now John Brennan is taking some serious incoming, including calls by at least two senators for his resignation.
Stay tuned.