we are not calling a's h janet napolitanoead-- janet napolitano's head.eople keep picking up the elements. john brennan, a longtime cia analyst. she was in an drumheadst of the nttc. he is the head of the homeland security council. he is a guy with a lot of government background. he was briefly in charge of the analysis corp., which did some work on the terrorist and watch list. the announcement that goes into who goes on the terrorist watch list. he did a500, running00 -- why t move from the 500,000 list that would have gotten an additional security checks. host: did security work on christmas day? here is an excerpt from that program. >> the system did work on that day -- because he did not -- he should never have gotten on that plane with those explosives. the system did not work. we were able to award other attacks. -- a we weretw able to -- we were able to thwart other attacks. we want to make sure we put together pieces of information that allows us to stop every single terrorist out there. >> this seems to be a big issue in terms of how certain thi

at a homeland security hearing today, secretary janet napolitano told senators she believes new screening techniques are a key part of a larger strategy to stop terrorism. >> once you've identified a problem, you've got to fix it. but we also need to be thinking ahead to be proactive. that's why, for example, we've entered into this agreement to really get some of the best scientists in the world who are

the katrina statement, this was not a systemic failure came from janet napolitano, not the president united states. i think ryan is right. whether you agree or disagree with the timing. he came out and said it. i think it's largely dependent on things outside of his control, no some ways are there future attacks, do these agencies, many agencies dedicated to it, can they coordinate better? if there is another attack, i think it would be -- it would come back negatively to him because he has come across -- >> already this morning we've heard people saying somebody almost bipartisan as governor kaine saying the president was distracted, he had his eye off the ball. then you had napolitano last week saying the system worked. let's listen to what senator susan collins said this morning on abc about janet napolitano's comments last week. >> i do but i will say that her initial comments were bizarre and inappropriate. it baffled me that she said that the system worked very, very smoothly when clearly it did not. >> clearly this was a pr fumble by napolitano. she owned a problem she didn't

it's my take because janet napolitano and robert gibbs said that the system works, that this was a collective message strategy on behalf of the white house, that they absolutely got wrong. >> larry: tanya. >> it's interesting that michael chertoff said on sunday along with the last head of cia, they talked about that response that janet napolitano made. one of the things is that most folks know -- and she's recanted it. i find it interesting this need to seize on that, to sort of suggest that the administration doesn't care about the war on terror. most people know that there have been a number of foiled attacks this year. i think this attack certainly -- >> ft. hood. >> shouldn't have happened. one second. there were lapses. there should have been better screening mechanisms. by the same token by and large our system has worked in terms of foiling some of these other attacks. so i just -- i think we have to be careful about trying to use this in order to, you know -- again, i disagree with andrea. i don't think we should get hysterical. >> janet napolitano said to call it an overseas conting

. >> janet napolitano is the homeland security secretary. as far as we know, no one has offered a resignation. >> that's right. the president did say, though, yesterday, of course, there are going to be accountability mechanisms within agencies. i'm not sure what he means by that. perhaps he means inspector general investigations. but if we don't have ultimately resignations or firings, it seems to me we'll talk about this again. >> you had a chance to sit down with janet napolitano this week, jeanne. you got a sense of where she approaches all of this and we saw her later in the week at that briefing at the white house. how is she dealing with all the pressure on her right now, because she is sort in of in the bull's eye. a lot of republicans are saying, you know what, she didn't step up to the plate. >> she didn't talk a lot about it except to say i've admitted i didn't perform well those first appearances on sunday morning after the attempted attack when i went out and said the system's work could have been more clear. i think the fact yo

i would like to yield now to the secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano. >> thank you, mr. vice president. i echo our thanks to all the men and women who are here, and your colleagues working on this effort, and our thanks to those already in haiti and those who are waiting at home ready to stage into haiti, has the bowling ball moves through the straw, to use the metaphor. i would just want to add a couple of things. first, as the vice president has said, the united states is fully committed to this effort, not just today and tomorrow, but for the long term. a lot of rebuilding will need to be done in haiti with the haitian government and the united nations as an overall effort. as the rebuilding is done, in the short term our needs are very definite. we need to be able to get in medicine, medical supplies, medical personnel. we need to be able to get in water systems so that potable water can be restored. we need to be able to get in the men and women who are skilled in the urban search and rescue. those very precious air frames that we have are really dedicated to those

see how much damage the janet napolitano did to our state. thank you. host: speaking of "washington journal", tomorrow juan zaratti , who served as the deputy national security adviser and the last four years of the bush administration, will be joining us at 9:15 a.m. eastern on "washington journal". the white house briefing room is where we will hear from former arizona governor janet napolitano and others. that is expected to take place at 5:15 eastern time. during the course of the day, these things tend to run late. john is joining us from san antonio on the independent line. thank you for joining us. caller: hello? i think the president did a good job with his speech under the circumstances. al qaeda and taliban -- their favorite station is probably c- span and watching american media and watching all politics is going here. from this attack, it was obviously hastily put together. and it is almost like they created this attack -- they knew it would cause a lot of problems with politics in the u.s., and they won. we have not even got into the congre

. >> sean: janet napolitano said the system works. every single time there's an incident, mr. secretary, every single time, we hear, i don't care if it is fort hood this airline attack, we keep hearing almost immediately, this is not terror-related. why are they say quick to calm the waters and the fears of the american people instead of saying we don't know whether it was terror related? >> that would be my preference. it is difficult to suggest that the fort attack was not terror-related. i don't know major was given guidance orders or took inspiration from the cleric but to suggest it was a criminal act defies what i think most americans -- doesn't pass the sniff test, most americans understand that >> sean: two have spoken out, one democrat, one republican. lee hamilton, democrat he says what he thinks is pervasive throughout the country, complacency, inertia, business as usual attitude, he thinks it is harmful and he thinks the president has a major share of blame. do you agree the president himself, is to blame in a lot of this? >> well, i think there's a lot of politica

janet napolitano will discuss and review of the aviation screening. how the terrorists -- the terrorists boarded an airplane that could have killed -- and cut that killed 300 innocent people and the aviation security going forward. i want to summarize the conclusions, and the steps that i have ordered to address them. the first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared and integrated, analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively that is what the intelligence reforms achieved after 9/11 and what the intelligence community is doing every day. but that is not what happened leading up to christmas day. shortcoming's happened in three broad and compound in ways. first, all of the intelligence community learned a great deal about the al qaeda affiliate -- the al qaeda affiliate, in the arabian peninsula, we do that they were wanting to strike the united states and they were recruiting operatives to do this. they did not aggressively follow up and prioritize the streams of intelligence related to the possible attack against the home

j janet napolitano seven days ago said the system did work. ournalists rejected napolitano's spin as being ludicrous? >> i think she probably rejected it herself the minute after she said it. it was clear to everyone the system did not work. as you saw today, the first thing practically that john brennan said to us was, look, the system did not work. the system failed. so it was one of those cases of spin that she probably wishes she could take back. >> changed the tune within about 24 hours. gloria, thanks very much. >>> as we look back at the press's performance in 2009, there were times when the news business was swept away by strange and sensational stories. these range from the death of world famous celebritys to run-away reality shows to high-profile hoaxes. they all became category five media storms. >> michael jackson had an extraordinary career and a troubled life marked by incredible highs and terrible low lows. >> the child prodigy who lived through illness, a sex scandal and massive money trouble. >> enormously talented but such a f

the most shocking thing that came out of the press conference today were statements made by janet napolitano. she was asked what were the most surprising things she found in the intelligence review. one, the termination of al qaeda. we know how determined al qaeda is. she said this was a surprised. two, they tried to attack us with a lone suspect. we have seen this before. it is shocking she thinks these are the two most shocking things that came out of this review. when people review that tape those calls will be reviewed. >> i think that critique is unfair. the ral eality is the obama administration didn't underestimate al qaeda's determination -- i'm not dou doubting what was on the tape. she gave a bad press conference as she did for a second time in the row now. the obama administration to be sure doesn't think al qaeda isn't tough. what they did underestimate was the capacity of al qaeda in yemen. what they thought was an aspirational terrorist practice was far more developed than they thought. there was an intelligence gap. >> larry: thanks, guys. thanks, everybody. we'll be having yo

inune, cancelled twice, the predent finally did it, acquiesced to that, all did he was appoint janet napolitanoormer congresswoman - >> bonnie: sheas a governo >> formerovernor to head this. they want t preside to tak e lead. you had the head the hispanic caucus oraucus leadership work together for an immigrationill because they felt the democrac leadership we not taking action. >> the reason why -- >> bonnie: o wait, so you're saying, i do remember candidate obama h it on his website that he was going t create a path to legalition for the 1 millin legals -- illals. he did win hispani vote for that. is he going to win forispanics support whh is the quickest growing minority in the country if he puts off immigration rerm? >> i tnk unfortunately it is going to be a politicalotbed that gets lost in aesty and anticorpate rhetoric. very little wille de. the president is rig on tha e republicans are stonalling, the reality is hispanics in congre want to move forward. >> let' look back at the realityf this predent's first year. he was met with an unprecedeed set of challens when he took office. heas f

intelligence, to the head of the national counterterrorism center, homeland security secretary janet napolitano. all of them are going to be around this table and a few others. all of them are going to be around this table, in the situation room, and it's going to be very similar to the afghanistan review. probably going to be a very lengthy meeting. hours, not minutes. that's for sure. and they're going to pore through these internal reviews that all of these agencies have done. they've sent them all to the president and he's been every day on this vacation poring through them himself. he gets an update in the morning from john brennan, his chief counterterrorism aide. and then he's been poring through the reviews at night. been very much more of a working part of vacation that all presidents are getting more and more used to these days. >> we were talking earlier with some of the folks from "the washington post," not just about what the president's going to do on tuesday, but you have something like five different congressional hearings coming up and there's going to be a lot of finger pointi

first of all, janet napolitano has done a tremendous job over the past year. i work very closely with her and i know there were a number of criticisms about her comments about the system works. what she was referring to, the system worked after the incident. what the president wants to do is make sure that we're able to take the corrective steps necessary to prevent this from happening again. he needs to hold everybody accountable including me. >> "newsweek" has a cover story coming out this week about the children of bin laden. in it there is reporting about specific information that you received before the christmas day plot. in terror warnings about the use of explosives being hidden in underwear to get through airport security, and other specific information prior to the act about the potential for a plot that would be based out of yemen on a u.s. airliner. what did you know prior to this? >> i think what you're referring to is the attempted assassination against a prince in saudi arabia by an individual who had concealed on his person the same explosive u

. >> so, given these new parameters that the president called upon for janet napolitano and homeland security to put in place, do you think enough is being done right now in terms of aviation security? >> well, it's a step in the right direction, alex. certainly we need to redouble our efforts to deploy technology like whole-body imageers that can see through clothing and spot concealed guns and knives and explosives. had those machines been used on this suspect, mr. abdulmutallab, that device would have been discovered. we also need trace explosive detection machines, because obviously, explosives are the weapon of choice for terrorists. we need these threat image projection screens as a training tool for screeners. because to be fair to them, it's mind-numbing work, and there's a limit to the human mind's ability to concentrate for prolonged periods of time. and so, it's a step in the right direction. it's not an antidote, though. there are a number of layers to airport security. we need to redouble the number of air marshals. there are too few, and that's going to happen as well a

i just add this, that the irony is that janet napolitano, who was and has a reputation as the first woman attorney general of arizona, as an u.s. attorney, as somebody who is serious, will in fact be remembered for this statement which understand trying to reassure people at the same time that you're trying to get -- it was totally wrong. and this is a massive screwup. but it involves individual accountability and responsibility as well as systemic problems. this isn't just a rearranging the boxes and lines of communication. there are individual accountability that has to be changed. >> after 9/11 we said none of these intelligence agencies are communicating with each other. >> a they're not communicating properly with each other. >> are we in the same spot now? >> no. no. there is more communication. there is a building out in suburban virginia which exists precisely to do this kind of thing, make sure the left hand is talking to the right hand. but the lack of a google search engine on this. it's so common in our lives, google, finding out information and all that, why can't the federal

>> don't worry, tobin and air marshals and this $200 million to up great janet napolitano's, upgrade to her office and the unspent money on recovery-gov, $537 billion, you know what that gets you, every, single seat on every airline flight in the u.s., in or out for the whole year. >> julia, how do you argue with that. >> you argue saying $10 trillion would not buy you enough security here in the u.s., to have kept a safe -- a person, from boarding a plane, with an explosive. >> and you can put people up there, beef up the security there, it doesn't matter, you are spending so much money on things that don't matter. >> really. >> here's something that matteres. >> how will we do that? how on earth are you going to put security in every country, where every -- where americans board planes, all over the world? what they need is -- really need, what our agencies need are better abilities to share information, raw information, that they get, and not more of this in the u.s., because, we have got everything we need. >> okay, we have got everything we need, toby, do you agree? >> well, of

they're doing, they're calling for the resignation of janet napolitano, the homeland security secretary. and saying the president must stop his plan to close the prison at guantanamo bay. so, they feel they got the political momentum on this. no sign they're paying any kind of political price for politicizing this security issue. >> thanks, terry. terry will have more tomorrow on "this week" guests include john brennan, senator lieberman and pete hoekstra. >>> as president obama confirmed today the christmas day terror plot was hatched by a fraction of al qaeda operating out of the country of yemen. the white house has been focusing money and attention on yemen for some time. top officials say they'll double the money that the u.s. has sent to that country to fight terrorism. rachel martin reports. >> reporter: eight years after 9/11, al qaeda is alive and growing. >> we have permitted the development of an al qaeda organization that's vibrant, widespread and lethal. sooner or later, we'll have to do something about that. >> reporter: al qaeda has dug its heel in and around the arab pen

he says janet napolitano l. walked into harm's way when she -- her statement that the system worked proved to be the a equivalent of having " a kick me" sign taped to unfortunately, she was referring to the security system designed to keep would-be bombers off of planes to begin with. it was pretty clear that abdulmutallab should have been stopped before it bought his ticket. none of the playerlayers of security or stop by the department of homeland security. this comes from the terrorist watch and no-fly list. these lists are managed and by law, congress insisted the airlines do the screening. they are managed by the terrorist screening center. congress directed the be run by the national directorate and the fbi, respectively. homeland security is just another customer. the department of homeland security is supposed to set security policies for the affairs office that issued visas. that has never happened because of squabbling. it might make sense if the latest attempt the attack was the department's fall. but

find out more, go to rethinkyourquit.com >> schieffer: finally today homeland security chief janet napolitanos getting hammered because her first response to the fiasco was that the system worked. we shouldn't have looked be surprised. she looks silly now that the facts are dribbling out. she was following the modern bipartisan public information template in this age of information management. first play down the problem. second emphasize what did not go one. assure us that those in charge are investigating and most important emphasize no one in any position of responsibility is at fault. it's not lying. but it's not exactly the whole truth. certainly not the whole story. oh, she left out was that part about asking us to respect the privacy of those involved. oh, i'm sorry. i got the government spin mixed one the tiger spin. here is the difference. tiger can hire as many people as he wants to make his excuses. it may do him no good but it's money to spend as he wishes. when government officials insult us with spin, they're doing it on our dime which is supposed to be used to operate the gover

you heard even republicans michael chertoff defending janet napolitano. they think the administration is pleased by that. they feel like some of the political pressure is off of her. there still could be some political pressure on, say, dennis blair, the director of national intelligence, or michael leiter, the guy in charge of the national counrterrorism center. but again, it's going to be weeks, maybe months before we know for sure if somebody individually gets held accountable, lester. >> chuck todd and richard engel tonight with us. thank you very much. >>> now to the weather. and this year is getting off to a cold start across much of the country, even by january standards. and the cold snap came just as many americans are on the move after the holidays. from the great plains to the northeast, ice, snow, and frigid cold were the order of the day. we get more from nbc's jeff rossen. >> reporter: whiteout conditions in buffalo, new york as the bills battle the colts. fans could barely see the players. >> yeah! >> reporter: perhaps the players could bar

the attendees, director of national intelligence, dennis blair, homeland security secretary janet napolitano, as well as leaders of the tsa and the national counterterrorism center, all formed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and all created to avoid just the kind of human and systemic failures that almost led to a christmas catastrophe in the skies over detroit. >> they should all be in the hot seat. this is ludicrous. i think there should be some action taken to correct this. there was a lack of accountability in the system. >> reporter: and late this afternoon, a warning from a top counterterrorism official -- al qaeda continue to redefine their methods to test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland. on the case of republican charges that mr. obama has deemphasized fighting terror, today the president hit back. >> of all of the partners we disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains and lifted major losses on al qaeda leadership, thwarted plots here in the united states and saved countless american lives. >> reporter: and, lester, we're told that today the governmen

the vice president was joined by janet napolitano and florida senator bill nelson. this is about 25 minutes. >> we are here because we wanted to see firsthand the operation tempo here and how things were moving. let me start off by saying that all of us earlier in the day visited little haiti, and we met with a very impressive group of haitian american leaders, elected officials, mayors, state representatives, and others, as well as leaders in the business community, medical community, nurses, doctors, and then we went to notre dame to meet with the archbishop, pastor, and a number of other leaders. at the outset, i would like to point out that we have been absolutely astounded by the result and capacity of the community. one case in point, the pastor of the church, trying to give comfort to the community, told me he had just lost family himself. he had found out that morning. one of the priests at the church was there. he looked devastated, and he had just heard minutes before of the loss of a close family member, i think it was his brother. everyone in the communi

janet napolitano, but that office was created to do exactly what the president says did not happen. >it is clear in both administrations ever since 9/11 we have layered up the bureaucracy. it actually impedes the process at times. i think as for dennis blair the president making mention of him makes it clear his job is probably safe and the president also made it clear yesterday in his, kind of, trying to be the unbush remarks, that no one's head is going to roll right now. he is taking full responsibility. i don't know if dennis blair's job is safe six weeks from now, but for now appears the president was said this was a collective failure. he is not taking anyone to town specifically. martha: you have to ask yourself, all anybody really cares about it. peter newman, let me get to you on this. do you think that we are going to have any streamlining or maybe get rid of some of these jobs? >> all the western intelligence agents since 9/11 are shortly afterwards have added people, added institutions, added layers of bureaucracy. the attitude was we need more intelligence. now we have so

she was joined by janet napolitano and bill nelson. -- he was joined by john and paula, and bill nelson. >> earlier today, all of us met with a very impressive group in little haiti of asian-american leaders are elected officials, state representatives, and others, as well as members of the business community, medical community, nurses, doctors. then we went to haiti to meet with the archbishop and pastor and a number of other priests and parishioners engaged in getting things moving. at the outset, i would like to point it to you that i have been, we have been absolutely out its -- stunned by the respons. the pastor of the church, a meeting us at the recreation center and trying to give comfort to the community. he just lost family himself, and he found out this morning. one of the priests who was there, he looked devastated. he had just literally heard minutes before a loss of a close family member, i think it was his brother. literally everyone, including patrick gaspar. he has lost family. it is one thing to rest monticellite so significant proportions. -- responds to a crisis of si

yesterday, but i think that has to be reflected by his advisors all the way down, from brennan to janet napolitanosterday said -- she first said the system worked and then yesterday the system doesn't work, as if it was an engine failure instead of a planned bombing on an airline. they got to use real language that speaks to the real threat that's coming at this country constantly. >> charles? >> i think if you look back over the last two weeks, what is so surprising and unsettling is not the individual missed here and there. i think it's the demeanor and language the president has. he's either disconnected and doesn't want to or doesn't grasp the nature or depth of the threat. when he waits three days after the attack to say anything, he reacts, you know, casually dressed, looking like he was taken off the golf course. he speaks about as if he's giving a police report, speaks about the incident involving a suspect, an alleged attack. speaks of him as an isolated extremist, as if this is a disgruntled postal worker attacking someone in the united states. the sense that it's not part of a larger ef

we have john -- janet napolitano talking about the right-wing conspiracy.going to hover over me like this, at least ditch the frank lutz hair cut. i need something a little more together. bill: ok. i am trying to picture frank and napolitano and it is not working. >> i love it when you lose control. bill: president obama did not bow before the king of saudi arabia. he was reaching down to shake his hand. what say you? >> as far as the jester goes, i do not know what you want to call it, but you might want to go back to the previous administration with bill clinton. i am pretty sure he had an accurate phrase for that gesture. i look -- i like gates and the way we are handling iraq. i like him going to the mat in afghanistan. we have to quit apologizing to every d-lister in a leopard skin fez. america is a great country and we need not constantly tied ourselves. they are the ones who whipped themselves in the back, not us. bill: the white house says it was not a bow you are saying what? >> i do not want to get into what it is. >> it depends on what the meanin

i directed janet napolitano to review aviation screening technologies and procedures.n the best science and technology, including the expertise of secretary of energy steven chu. i also directed my counterterrorism and homeland security adviser john brennan to lead a our review into our watch listing system to fix what went wrong. as we discussed today, this ongoing review reveals more about the human and systemic failures that almost cost nearly 300 lives. we will make a summary of this preliminary report public within the next few days. but let me share some of what we know so far. as i described over the weekend, elements of our intelligence community knew umar farouk addulmutallab had traveled to yemen and joined up with extremists there. it now turns out that our intelligence community knew of other red flags, that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula not always fought to hit -- hit targets in yemen but in the united states appeared we had information that this group was working with an individual who was known -- who we now know was in fact the individual involved i

janet napolitano, we'll see. i, for one, was pleased to see a president who had a measured response, who didn't immediately come back to the white house. the purpose of terrorism, after all, is to terrorize. why allow al qaeda to terrorize us? he had all the instruments of state at his disposal. he reacted appropriately. i don't think there was a need for a "the sky is falling" approach. >> should she have come back from san francisco? >> i don't think she should have used the phrases man-caused disaste disasters. >> they have been aggressive, part of what we're seeing is al qaeda trying to adapt to the increased pressure. if you count, as being damaged, this making it more difficult for him to do some of the things he wants to do, in that sensuous i think he has been damaged. they will argue that the people sent back to yemen are in prisoning today. when you thereon jane harmon and joe lieberman say hold off on sending more people back, you can imagine how this will progress and why congress may make closing gua

homeland security secretary janet napolitano and national intelligence director dennis blair are among those scheduled to testify. you can watch it live on c-span3 beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern time or watch it online at c-span.org. abigail adams had to remind john adams to remember the ladies when creating a new government. dolly madison had to encourage her once shy husband james this weekend on "afterwards," the intimate lives of the founding fathers. thomas flemming profiles the women who played a central part in creating our country. afterwards, part of this week's "book tv." massachusetts voted for republican scott brown yesterday in a special election to finish the remaining two years in ted kennedy's senate term. in a moment we'll bring you scott brown's victory speech. but first, here's his opponent, democrat martha coakley. [applause] >> thank you! i don't know. somebody told me there was a crowd out there. thank you. thank you. i want you to know that i just got off the phone with scott brown. i've offered him my congratulations and my best wishes on his victory tonight. an

he's going to have to take charge of the situation, especially after the performance of janet napolitanot week. he will face a political battle over national security heading into the next year. >> any indication he might change up the team given what happened over christmas day? >> he's insisting on accountability. he clearly has secretary napolitano's back. in the statement he gave over the course of the week, he said, she was right in saying that after the bomber was subdued, the system worked. in other words, flights in the air, 160 flights in the air were notified of the issue. mores were measurers were taken to toughen security at the gates. it seems that he's trying to protect her from the long naives in washington, d.c., that are already out for her. >> thank you, terry. he'll be talking to john brennan, joe lieberman and others this morning on "this week." >> we're going to be hearing a lot about yemen. >> that's right. >>> now a look at the headlines. >>> the massive search for a florida man accused of shooting four family members to death on thanksgiving day is over. this, aft

you've got janet napolitano who would not mention the word terrorist or 9/11 in her congressional testimony. you had her coming out with a report a few months later saying american veterans were as great a threat, if not greater than, radical islamists. you just had incident after incident. and the fact that the president did not respond for as long as he did not respond, i think, has hurt him with the american people. this was a step to try to heal that. >>larry: james, what do you make of vice president cheney's actions? >> let's give president obama credit, he didn't invade the wrong country. and let's further give him credit that he didn't have osama bin laden caught and backed away from it as vice president cheney did. we'll give him a big round of applause there. they got a vice president and michael steele and sarah palin out. democrats couldn't pay for better criticism. again, i think the president stepped up fine. secretary napolitano, i actually owe her an apology. she was talking about the system after this incident happened. it clearly didn't work before it happened. that happen

homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, as well as leaders of the tsa and the national counterterrorismer, all formed in the wake of 9/11 attacks and all created to avoid just the kind of human and systemic failures that almost led to añju)áuspj catastrophe in the skies over detroit. >> they should all be in the hot seat. i mean, this is ludicrous. i think there should be some action taken to correct this. there was a lack of accountability in the system. >> reporter: and late this afternoon, a warning from a top counterterrorism official. al qaeda continued to refine their methods to test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland. in the face of republican charges that mr. obama has de-emphasized fightingxd terror the president hit back. >> along with our partners, we've disrupted terrorists' financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the united states, and saved countless american lives. >> and that was mike viqueira reporting. >>> some scary moments for passengers on board an air berlin flight. it skidded off

at first janet napolitano comes out with her unusual message that the system is working. i can't imagine anybody actually leaves that that was just her acting on her own. i suspect that any mess thank goes out at that level of the cabinet gets cleared through rahm emanuel or david axelrod. >> you don't think she takes ownership of that gap? >> now, she has to. some people calling for her job. enough is enough. this is a problem as we just heard that concerns all of us and shouldn't be a bipartisan issue but the current administration, they have to own it and i think one of the things we have seen them do recently is essentially throw the intel community under the bus early on. president obama declared he has two reviews going right now. before the reviews are finished he is already declareing that there are systematic failures and human failures. i think in an effort to distract and deflect from the white house. >> how much of an investigation do they need to do? i mean the guy got on the plane. what was he doing on the plane to begin with? obviously the system didn't wor

after the president's press conference, you had john brennan and janet napolitano. she was surprised that individuals would take us. there's clearly a problem here. i disagree with george. i don't think that the briefings have begun to give americans comfort. >> does the president have to do more? >> i think neither the bush administration or, so far, the obama administration hat fired up the groups to take account of what is not a single al qaeda. it's a hydra-headed monster. the strategic direction is centralized. that's difficult to get at all of this. yemen who really thought about yemen? why yem season on the map at all. yem season running out of oil, water. i mean, i'm reminded of what countries did in the cold war. they would say, there's a communist resurrection here. yemen has an yaed braal qaeda b. it's not fighting them hard because of way of getting aid and attention. >> and what i think is stark is that we're now talking about yemen. the u.s. is spending i think $63 million in yemen this year compared to $2.6 billion in afghanistan. $1.4-something billi

homeland security secretary janet napolitano first said that the system worked.nd not counterterror watchdog mike kliter who hit the slopes a day after the attack. and the top adviser. >> he asked me whether or not he should cancel the trip. i asked mike about whether or not he had a full compliment and deputies and in place. mike said he did. i said, mike, no. you deserve this vacation. you need to be with your son so i was the one who told him he should go out there. >> former c.i.a. operative wayne simmons says forget the bungling, these guys should be packing. wayne, good to have you. how you doing? >> i'm doing great. >> but you're worried about how we're doing securitiwise. >> you've said the verse before i'm sure. you've certainly read it, the or well verse that we sleep safely because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us. in this case this president has succeeded with his administration in making absolutely certain, and we hear this all across the nation, that americans do not sleep safely in their beds anymore b

i directed secretary of home land security janet napolitano to review aviation screening, technology, and procedures. she briefed me on her initial findings today. and i'm pleased that this review is drawing on the best science and technology, including the expertise of secretary of energy steven chu and his department. i also directed my counterterrorism and homeland security advisor, john brennan, to lead a thorough review into our terrorist watch listing system so we can fix what went wrong. as we discussed today, this ongoing review continues to reveal more about the human and systemic failures that almost cost nearly 300 lives. we will make a summary of this preliminary report public within the next few days. but let me share some of what we know so far. as i described over the weekend , elements of our intelligence community knew that umar farouk abdulmutallab had traveled to yemen and joined up with extremists there. it now turns out that our intelligence community knew of other red flags that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula sought to strike not only american targets in yemen

homeland security secretary janet napolitano says there are also plans to add more metal detectors, explosiveon technology, sniffer dogs and uniformed and undercover agents. joining us now to talk about these security breaches and most importantly a way forward in what needs to be done to keep us safe is cnn contributor tom fuentes, a former fbi assistant director. tom, good to see you. >> hi, randi. >> the six page summary that the president talked about this week found that the u.s. government had sufficient information before this christmas day plot to actually stop the plot. so what happened? >> well, thinki think it is clee proper people weren't notified and therefore he wasn't placed on the no fly list and therefore wasn't prevented from getting on the aircraft. that's one weakness with the intelligence system. the second weakness is that the safety of americans is still going to on occasion be on the hands of foreign governments. so people entering an airplane in a foreign country bound for the united states or in the united states bound for anywhere are going to have to rely on the me