John Brennan: “No Smoking Gun” That Bomber Would Get On Plane

Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan says there was “no smoking gun” that could have stopped the attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas day.

White House aide John Brennan cited “lapses” and errors in the sharing of intelligence and clues about the Nigerian man accused in the foiled attempt.

“There is no smoking gun,” Brennan said. “There was no single piece of intelligence that said, ‘this guy is going to get on a plane.'”

[…]

Brennan cited “a number of streams of information” — the 23-year-old suspect’s name was known to intelligence officials, his father had passed along his concern about the son’s increasing radicalization — and “little snippets” from intelligence channels. “But there was nothing that brought it all together.”

“In this one instance, the system didn’t work. There were some human errors. There were some lapses. We need to strengthen it. But day in and day out, the successes are there.”

No smoking gun that he was going to get on a plane? How about information that should never have allowed him to get near a plane in the first place, information already available?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.