congressman pete hoekstra and senator susan collins. senator joe lieberman and congressman jane harmon. >>> and the politics of security. george will, cynthia tucker. ron brownstein, and david sanger of "the new york times." >>> president obama's plan for 2010 is to do all the things he said he was going to do this year. >>> and we begin with the man who is leading the president's review of the intelligence failures that led to the attempted bombing of flight 253. department security adviser john brennan. thanks for being with us. good morning. >> good morning. >> there's news that the united states embassy and the british embassy in yemen are closed this morning. what does the intelligence show us about the threats? >> it shows the threat that al qaeda poses in the area. the intelligence available was looked at. the attacks possibly against the embassy and personnel, we decided it was the prudent thing to do to close the embassy. >> a live threat, an active threat? >> there is. al qaeda has several hundred members in yemen. they've gro

and from grand rapids, michigan, the ranking republican on the house committee, pete hoekstra. welcome to all. congressman hoekstra, let me begin with you since you've just returned from yemen. what did you learn about specifically the plot against flight 253? about al qaeda? and about the yemeni government's capacity to fight this fight? >> i think we learned a number of things. as john brennan just said, this is a real threat, this is an imminent threat coming from the al qaeda arabian peninsula area. the second thing that we've learned is that this is kind of a unique threat coming from this group. why? it's unique because the core group of al qaeda on the peninsula is formed by former gitmo detainees. these are people that have been held in gitmo, have been returned, and have now gone back on the battlefield. there's the influence of an american radical iman. these people have moved an attack on the u.s. homeland to the top of their priority list. that is the root cause of why we saw the attack at ft. hood. why we saw the attack on flight 253. the final thing is that, you kn

representative pete hoekstra on the program morrow, sent out a fund-raising letter, give me money to counter president obama's policies. that old tradition of silence and solidarity around the president has dissolved and it looks like the republicans don't believe there will be any backlash. 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 report

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also with us on washington journal was republican representative pete hoekstra of michigan, the rankingmember of the intelligence committee. >> host: we talk now with representative pete, congressman you will be getting a briefing today by the administration on the christmas day bombing attempt. what do you want to know? >> guest: there's a couple of things i want to know. number one this is kind of personal for me i come from steve michigan and this was an attack on the largest city of detroit, so we have any indication at all that detroit was picked for a specific reason and this is an indication that it may be a target sometime again in the future or was detroit just a choice of convenience? it could have been atlantic or minneapolis, could have been new york or any other city. the guy was just getting to detroit. and the second thing is i really want to find out why after fort hood which had very much the same footprint the american-born radical clerk in yemen, it had al qaeda of the arabian peninsula and it was an attack on america. what steps did the administration take immediatel

our guest is representative pete hoekstra who is ranking member on the intelligence committee in these. in addition to the briefing and making members on several committees sent the letter to the white house. you have touched on it a little bit so far but speak more about the letter you sent in the major points. >> guest: the frustrations we have had as we had no briefings on ft. hood. you know, the present commission report to be done on november 30. that was delivered to the white house. congress still hasn't seen it. again, i thought ft. hood was a terrorist attack. and, what really caught my interest again was a radical islamic cleric who is the american-born. what is his influence? wendell qaeda agents someone who is in america as part of their operation or inspirational network, that is a coup for them. and so, what was going on and what did we learn and what do we know about a lucky and what did we do is a result? they continue to refuse to brief us on that. i was in yemen on new year's day and expressly the white house had called the ambassador, and the cia had called the sta

in a recent letter, congressman pete hoekstra, ranking republican on the house intelligence committee the christmas day incident requires mr. obama to abandon his "brazen and naive pledge to close guantanamo bay. hoekstra followed up sunday on abc's "this week." >> the core group of al qaeda on the arabian peninsula is formed by former gitmo detainees. these are people that were held in gitmo, have been returned, and have now gone back to the battlefield. >> warner: democratic congresswoman jane harman, chairman of a house subcommittee on terrorism assessment, takes issue with that. >> it's way too simplistic it is true that there is a connection between the christmas day bomber and yemen and that i think guantanamo foorkds a recruiting tool that surksnique worldwide al qaeda and other bad guys. >> warner: harman supports the temporary freeze on repatriating yemeni detainees but says indefinitely holding them is not a permanent solution to this thorny problem. one of the alternatives is to transfer the yemeni prisoners even those cleared for release to a federal facility in thompson,

our guest is representative pete hoekstra of michigan. to the briefing, you can ranking members sent a letter to the white house. speak more about that letter and the major points. guest: the frustrations we have had is we have had no briefings on fort hood. the president commissioned a report to be done. cummers still has not seen it. -- congress still has not seen it. i thought it was a terrorist attack. what caught my interest again must a radical islamic cleric who is american-born. awlaki, what is his role? when al qaeda can get an american as part of their inspirational network, that is a coup for them. what do we know about him, and what did we do as a result? they continue to refuse to brief us on that. i was in yemen, the white house ambassador had called and said, the congress may ask a range of questions. if he goes into that area, you have to tell him that that information will be forthcoming to him from washington. excuse me? you cannot talk about the things that you are doing here? you have to get the answer from washington?

pete hoekstra is the ranking member. and then questions about jobs.ngton journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. a couple of events to tell you about tomorrow morning. the first public meeting of the financial inquiry commission is on c-span 2 at 9:00 eastern. they look of the causes of the financial situation, including testimony from the heads of bankamerica, j.p. morgan shares, and goldman sacks. the house armed services committee focuses on military. witnesses include representatives from the department of state and the head of the u.s. pacific command. that is live on c-span 3 at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> did you know the number one freak news application for your iphone is c-span radio? -- #one free news application for your iphone is c-span radio? there's also a tab with links to all our podcast, including question -- "q &a." >> the decision to open a plan for public comment passed by a vote of 3-2. we join this meeting just after it started. >> we have been told the industry has reformed. while it appears more compensation is p