obviously, richard reid is in prison for the rest of his life. however, there was lost opportunities from an intelligence-gathering perspective looking forward. from a criminal prosecution perspective, we used all the tools in terms of looking back in bolstering the evidence against richard reid. so intelligence fartherrering has -- gathering has to be part of the discussion from a national security perspective in light of the war on terrorism. jane: mike, what's the possibility of getting some of that intelligence out of a plea deal they may cut with this guy? what would be the incentive for him? he was willing to blow himself up on an airplane. >> well, and that's, obviously, the challenge. most of these fanatics that are essentially becoming part of the enemy of the united states through the al-qaeda organization have no interest in cooperating with the united states government. in fact, you know, people like richard reid and abdulmutallab, they want to announce their hostility towards our country, our government and our people almost as a bad

and richard reid didn't know anything. >> chris: didn't know if richard reid knew anything. >> maybet was a mistake to try him in criminal administration. if that's obama administration excuse -- >> not an excuse. >> eight years in the war on terror -- >> it's an excellent american standard. you talk about just wanting to make people like us. no, no, no. i was wrong last week when i said on this program i thought he was acting independently. i think there are lots of people who thought it's not only the u.s. intelligence, it was british intelligence, others around the world who didn't pick this up. okay, a mistake was made. it should have been communicated. but to somehow suggest that that is now reason for us to act in a more draconian manner and give up on the idea we want to stop the spread of anti-american sentiment around the world and it's just a matter of, you know, dressing up and being nice to people and leading the guests, that's not right. it's about trying to stop the spread of terrorism to the individuals like this guy abdulmutallab, and the guy at fort hood who picked t

president obama is handling him like president bush handled richard reid. that's the right thing to do. we should follow the rule of law. it helps us get the intelligence tips. would this father have walked into an american embassy and given up his son if he thought he would be shipd off to some black site and tortured? i don't think so. >> an overall trajectory here. after 9/11, president bush made the decision that the threat was so unique and pervasive that we needed to do things differently than we had before. enhanced techniques. warrantless wiretapping. i think, if you look at president obama, without rejecting the bush approaches, he's trying recalibrate them. move the responses into more traditional channels. moving more without completely renouncing the decisions. closing guantanamo. housing the detainees in supermax type places. this is what joe lieberman said within three minutes. don't send anyone back to yemen, don't try him in civilian court, don't close down guantanamo. when there are threats to security, the feeling of the country is to do w

but let's remember that first of all richard reid happened just in the wake of 9/11. in the way that we are today with military tribunals. he also was an american citizen who admitted his guilt. so it is very different than what we're dealing with now. >> karen, it wasn't the week of 9/11. it was december, right on the eve of christmas. again for republicans to complain that where's president obama on the eve of christmas, how come he doesn't break his vacation and talk to the american people, president bush on the eve of christmas, it had already been four days since richard reid and the president hadn't said a word. >> that's true. and whether the bomb was in the underwear or the shoe, the reality is the man got on a plane, he had paid cash, he didn't have luggage. there were other things even before the underwear bomb that would have precluded him from being on this plane. someone didn't do their job and they should be held accountable and fired. >> maybe we should be talking about the whole visa procedure. the fact is we don't take visa as a security threat anymor

terrorist stepped onto the plane in amsterdam with the same explosives used by the shoe bomber, richard reidor than eight years ago. but today i want to discuss another failure, a failure that occurred after abdul mutallab had already been detained by authorities in the troy, an error that undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to our country. this failure occurred when the obama justice department unilaterally decided to treat this foreign terrorist as an ordinary criminal. abdul mutallab was questioned for less than one hour before the justice department advised him that he could remain silent and offered him an attorney at our expense. once of for the protection our constitution guarantees american citizens, this foreign terrorist lawyered up and stopped talking. when the obama administration decided to treat him as an ordinary criminal, it did so without the input of our nation's top intelligence officials. the director of national intelligence was not consulted. the secretary of defense was not consulted. the secretary of homeland se

. >> it's accepted that eight years or nine years, bomber richard reid used the exact same explosive that we still don't have a system in place to detect that kind of explosive. >> and building up, security seems to be at the forefront ever since al qaeda's attack ten years ago, highlighting just how deadly the organization has come to come. jeremy. >> thanks. abc news' martha raddatz is in yemen and will be reporting on a situation there. you can see her reports on "world news" with diane sawyer and on "good morning america." >>> and in afghanistan, four service members have been killed in two separate bombings. a british soldier also died in one of the incidents. these are the first combat-related deaths this year. >>> many students are heading back to school from single digit windchills in the northeast, and florida's longest cold snap in a decade. and as one meteorologist said, the eastern half of the country is in the ice box. >> reporter: residents along the great lakes are used to near whiteout conditions, but not inside the football stadiums, the colts/bills game resembled a

. >> it is unacceptable that nine years or eight years after richard reid use the exact same explosive that we still do not have a system in place that can detect that kind of explosive. >> it is time to take a fresh, non-partisan look, not knock down the department of homeland's security, but to fix them and build them up. >> starting at midnight, there's a new normal for international passengers traveling to the u.s. trade to all received heightened random screening and 100% of the passengers from terrorism- prone countries will be patted down and other items surged. >> the president will return to washington for work tomorrow morning, cutting his vacation one day short. first on the list is a series of new questions about national security. >> the u.s. and british embassies in yemen are closed because of concerns of a terror attack. officials say there are indications terrorists are planning attack in the capital city and the embassies could be a target. we do not know when the buildings will reopen. in 2008, 17 people, including one american, were killed when militants attacked the

richard reid just got on the scope and there was a law in which you could process and justice throughtribunal. and the experience with richard reid helped convince the bush administration, high value targets anybody in this plot like this needed to be treated differently and as a combatant so the information can be gotten from them. every time we did that with a high value target, some of it is in the public record how valuable it is, we learned about other plots on individuals and actors from the high sal targets interrogated and it was the experience of richard reid and how unsatisfactory it was, we got him and convicted him and what we ought to be interested in this, all the connections and information we can glean that will lead us to others and keep other plots from being launched. >> vice-president cheney released and gave this statement to politico.com and they penned an op-ed piece and quoting, saying that dick cheney is wrong about this, i want your take on this. obama, president obama had basically adopted the same general approach to homeland security that is similar to pre

there were people who were arrested during the previous administration, richard reid, the issue bomber-- the shoe bomber, all of which were tried in criminal court and sentenced. just because a person is born to be put into the criminal legal process, it does not mean that we have -- we do not have other opportunities to get information from them. >> after he loitered up, did he stopped talking? >>-- after he lawyered up, did he stop talking? >> we got information. as you talk with the lawyers and individuals, as they recognize what they are facing as the charges, conviction and possible sentence, there are opportunities to talk about it. the fbi has some of the best interrogators in the world. i am confident it -- confident we can work the system to cut his miranda rights. he does not have to speak at all. >> there are certain things on the table. if he wants to engage with us and a productive manner, there are ways he can do that. >> why not treat him? you have the right to treat him as an enemy combatants? why not do that if he has more legible intelligence about the future attacks,

and i don't recall the uproar from pat or anybody when richard reid, the shoe bomber was tried in a civil court and is now languishing in a high security prison in america. >> okay. hold onhe has sown. president obama has been consistently critical of the cia and what dick cheney, former vice president characterizes as enhanced interrogation, which mr. obama as president outlawed. the president denies that he's witch hunting. >> i have the utmost respect for the cia. i don't want witch hunts taking place. i've also said, though that the attorney general has a job to uphold the law, but i continue to believe that nobody's above the law. >> attorney general eric holder acting on president obama's directive has announced an investigation to see whether the cia denied the civil rights of 9/11 actors such as khalid shaikh mohammed during the bush/cheney presidency. holder says the investigation, begun in april '09, would be sweeping and bowelless. it is still underway. >> we're going to follow the evidence wherever it takes us. we'll follow the law wherever t no one is above the law. >> questi

last week, we were talking about richard reid the shoe bomber.resident bush allowed him to go in civilian courts. what is the big difference? all of a sudden now it's about beating up president obama over this. the man has taken responsibility. another point you say well, he doesn't say we're at war with al-qaeda. this week he said we're at war with al-qaeda. >> which he said many times in the past, actually. >> chris: do you have a response to that? >> no. six days before the christmas bombing we released six gitmo detainees, terrorists with real records of al-qaeda connections to yemen. we did know that al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula was dangerous. the white house has been saying we knew about that for a long time. we were trying to kill al-awlaki. nonetheless, the president was so ideologically committed to closing guantanamo that he were to push h the guys out. how could it be prudent for the commander in chief to send six al-qaeda terrorists back to yemen, a place where al-awlaki is training suicide bombers? >> chris: that question will r

the mistakes are made, the bush administration allowed the attack of richard reid, which we were luckydidn't actually succeed. it can happen to any administration, a lapse here and there. but a disconnected and detached and affectless president is rather disturbing and that's why i think that the reaction is extremely unsettling. >> up next, your choice on-line, the topic of the week. ÷÷÷÷÷ >>> you're looking at a picture on sky news, our sister network. this is from a passenger aboard that plane that was bound for dubai that the british police stormed, armed guards, officer, you can see them standing up there in the distance. they took off at least one, we're hearing of at least one arrest, possibly two arrests. people in handcuffs and this incident is ongoing in the heathrow, according to a witness, they stormed this plane, basically the police swarmed these guys and rushed them out. they've been moved -- the airport is still open. however, this incident is continuing. we'll continue to follow it here on fox. we want to keep you updated. >>> this week and every week, special rep

the mistakes are made, the bush administration allowed the attack of richard reid, which we were luckyppen to any administration, a lapse here and there. but a disconnected and detached and affectless president is rather disturbing and that's why i think that the reaction is extremely unsettling. >> up next, your choice on-line, the topic of the week. you go next if you had a hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible with a hoveround. tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor and founder of hoveround. when we say you're free to see the world, we mean it. call today and get a free hoveround information kit that includes a video and full color brochure. dennis celorie: "it's by far the best chair i've ever owned." terri: "last year, 9 out of 10 people got their hoveround for little or no money." jim plunkitt: "no cost. absolutely no cost to me." breaking news...when you call today, we'll include a free hoveround collapsible grabber with the purchase of your power chair. it reaches, it grabs, it's collapsible and it's portable. it goes wherever you go. get it

. >> it is unacceptable that nine years, or eight years, after richard reid used the exact same explose, that we still don't have a system in place that can detect that kind of explosive. >> it's time to take a fresh, nonpartisan look. not to knock down the department of homeland security or the 9/11 reforms. but frankly to fix and build them up. >> reporter: and that look, again, is at the forefront ever since al qaeda's attack on the "uss cole" nearly ten years ago first highlighted how deadly this organization had come to be. linseyjeremy? >> all right, abc's sonia gallego joining us from london, thanks, sonia. >>> we are just learning this morning that at least four u.s. service members have been killed in southern afghanistan. nato says the troops died in roadside bombings over the weekend. these are the first combat-related deaths so far this year. >>> passengers are boarding their flights at the newark, new jersey airport this morning after a security breach grounded planes and stranded travelers for hours. it happened just hours before new tsa regulations go into effect for pass

but president bush took as many as six days to talk about richard reid, the shoe bomber. >> you have to look what the president has done since being in office. you cannot wane war if you're treating it as an inconvene yept side light. fushls were briefed during the transition on yemen and the threat from yemen. if june of this year, we were attacked at little rock by a terrorist that had just come back from yemen. in september, john brennan travelled to sawed r ed tled to received a briefing. you can go down this list on and on. in november we were attacked -- >> the president had a record number of drone attacks. >> in november we were attacked at ft. hood by someone with connections in yemen, and the christmas day attack. 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 ad

look at richard reid, the shoe bomber. he was convicted and sentenced in court. zacarias moussaoui. all these individuals are tried in civilian court. we tried to adapt the tools in the right way. we are also a country of laws. this was an individual arrested on u.s. soil. if we decide at some point we're going to charge and hold somebody under the enemy combatant status it's a tool that was available to us. we made a decision to do this. we have great confidence in the fbi and other individuals in terms of debriefing. great confidence in our court system so we can use that to our advantage and individuals in the past have, in fact, given us very valuable information as they've gone through the plea agreement process. >> let me ask you one more question. there was a report in "newsweek" that you received intelligence from saudi officials that al qaeda might try to use an explosive hidden in underwear. that's what mr. abdulmutallab did. what did you do with that information when you got it? >> i think the report you're referring to is the attempted assassination attack against prince

this is what the bush administration did with richard reid. our federal courts, if they can't protect us from somebody like this then how are they going to protect me when i'm living in new orleans and i walk out on the street and i'm very passionate about this. this is the absolutely right way to do this, to treat them as criminals. >> larry: go ahead. >> i do not think these individuals deserve the same rights that any american would have brought before court in this land. and that's the bottom line. and you can either treat this as an act of war or as a mugging. the fact that this gentleman -- this gentleman, listen to me -- this individual was charged with destroying an aircraft rather than an act of terrorism is an abomination in my opinion. americans don't agree with it, and that's why those numbers have plummeted from 55% who thought we were winning the war on terror to 36% who think we're winning it today. by the way, that mirrors a lot of other numbers are plummeting for president obama and the democrats. they have to get more mainstr

, richard reid, after i think less than three days had already been indicted. puts him in the criminal justice system here. he was tried in boston and is now at a maximum-security facility in florence, colorado. the same is true for zachariah miceli. he entered the criminal, u.s. criminal justice system and convicted, not far from here and sent to colorado as well. >> was a president ever briefed about things like the tides list and how that works, or airport security? or did he ever ask or was he sure that all this work ever before loses? >> i don't know the full answer to the degree to which they had gotten into the tides database or that. i conservancy. obviously the president spent a lot of time discussing potential threats. >> does the administration have in response, and are there any concerns about increased demonstrations like these happening against the president? >> i would point you to the secret service on that. i don't have anything on that. >> thirteen state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders saying that if nebraska clause is

richard reid, this is why we should try this guy in detroit in civilian court. just because we were wrong with him does not mean that we are run here. let us set a consistent pattern that as we move forward, let us try them in military courts. host: the headline in -- next phone call is from michigan. you are on the line. caller: here is my presidential voting record, just so everyone knows. i voted for ronald reagan, bush, perot, clinton, gore, and obama. what do you think about dick cheney coming out and calling obama weak the day after the christmas day attack? as far as information-sharing goes, you hear about things that 9/11 commission did not pick up on. able danger was blocked by a military lawyers to share information on purpose. what are your comments on that? guest: thank you. i understand some of the frustrations the former vice president may have to. repeatedly over the last 12 months, everything that is wrong with america has been blamed on the previous administration. i might prefer at this point in time to say, mr. cheney, kind of back off. i und

in this case we had richard reid, virtually identical in his act, he went to federal court. zacarias moussaoui went to federal court. i think it is a problem if we treat our legal system as improvisational, we go by case by case of what we feel someone should have in term of rights. the credibility of a legal system is its consistency. without consistency, it lacks coheren coherence. i think what mr. ridge is saying is that when we don't like you or think we might get some information out of you, then we won't give you the rights into our system. and that creates the type of anger and, frankly, the view of hypocrisy that the united states has faced. i think it is very unlikely. a military tribunal doesn't generate intelligence. it is not a way to generate any more intelligence in a federal trial is. >> peter, do you want to weigh in on this? >> in the detroit case, he gave up big clues that was public information on christmas day or maybe on the day after. and also the idea that -- the other thing is when you investigate a crime, it is not simply what the suspect says. the k

i think he is prosecuting the same way president bush prosecuted the shoe bomber, richard reid as a criminal. you don't want to make them holy warriors. you want to prosecute them as what they are and that's criminals. that's what clinton did when he put the previous bombers in jail instead of letting them get away like osama bin laden. >> larry: bay, what did you make of the president today? >> you know, i think it's a little bit too late is what it is. i think what he did today was right and he took responsibility, as stephanie said, as he well should. look what happened here. this was an attempted act of war against the united states of america. we had al qaeda moving an operative on an american plane, putting him in a specific seat to do this crime. the president took days to respond. they treat this fellow, reading him his miranda rights instead of getting an interrogation where we can get serious information. they didn't notify the other pilots. larry, did they do anything right is what i want to ask? this is a commander in chief who looks to me like he's not certain what to do when so

the last time it had been used was in december of 2001 when the shoe bomber richard reid tried to igniteakers that he had burned in to explosive bombs and failed to get the detonator off. it was eight years ago. now all of a sudden we pick up chatter about it over the summer. we see it used here on christmas day. the difficult part, the reason terrorists haven't been using it widely, it is very difficult to get a hold of and manufacture correctly. so now that he that they have one, i can guarantee you this, whoever made the underwear bomb that was used on christmas day did not make one set. that's what intelligence is worried about, that they had enough to make more than one bomb because so little is effective. and that we may have just seen the first failed attempt. there may be something else coming up. >> daily beast chief investigative reporter, gerald pozner, thank you so much. again, you can read gerald's latest dispatches at the daily beast, must-read for anybody who cares about investigative reporting. >>> for the newest developments online on al qaeda's plot against americans in

but president bush took as many as six days to talk about richard reid, the shoe bomber. >> you have to go back and look at the way the president has taking on terrorism since taking office. you cannot win a war if you're treating it as an inconvenient sidelight. officials were briefed during the transition on yemen and the threat from yemen. in june of this year, we were attacked at little rock by a terrorist that had just come back from yemen. in september, john brennan travelled to saudi arabia and received personal briefing from the head of saudi intelligence, who, himself, was the target of an attempted bombing with the same substance that was used on the airplane. you can go down this list on and on. in november we were attacked -- >> the president had a record number of drone attacks. >> in november we were attacked at ft. hood by someone with connections in yemen, and the christmas day attack. after the president's press conference, you had john brennan and janet napolitano. they both said they were surprised that al qaeda in yemen was operational. napolitano went on to say s

oh mist the september 11 attacks as well as the 2001 anthrax attacks that followed as well as richard reid's shoe bomb in december of '01. that was hefty full packed fall there. what do you make of guiliani's criticism here, what do you think he was thinking? i know you can't get inside his head. >> to quote president obama, this was a screw-up on his part, forgetting those major terror incidents which occurred under president george w. bush. i think his office put out a statement indicating he made a misstatement when he was on "good morning america" yesterday and made those comments. i think he'd like to take those back but stick with the general idea he was putting forward, that is that this president, president obama does not fully understand the so-called war on terror, is not dealing with it appropriately. i think that you're going to hear more of that, not only from rudy gullianfully but other republicans, including former vice president dick cheney as we move forward. this is an issue that continues to vex the white house and issue republicans critical on this issue will continue to

in the past, richard reid, the former shoe bomber, zacarias moussaoui, jose padilla, all of them chanch echarged in crimina court and sentenced to life imprisonment. we have these tools available, whether it's an enemy combatant avenue or charge them criminally. we looked at the cases and decided it was best, in fact, to charge him criminally. >> would there be additional intelligence that could be gleaned by making him an enemy combatant? do you believe that whatever you're learning from him, was the christmas day plot.thing la and the arain bran peninsula? >> we have different ways of obtaining information. a lot of people as they understand what they are facing and their lawyers recognize that there is advantage to talking to us, in terms of plea agreements we're going to pursue that. so, we are continuing to look at ways that we can extract information from him. as far as a broader plot that's one of the things that the intelligence community is working to see if we can uncover. was he a singleton. we're doing everything possible to identify somebody. >> what does your intelligence

impressive in the sense that a bombing that unlike the experience of 9/11 or the richard reid bombing, the shoe lace bomber in december of 2001 when there was -- we were free of partisan carping or criticism this was followed immediately bipartisan countriesism lead by the former vice president. and i just felt like he stilled a good part of that. i thought the reaction to it was as serious as his delivery was. the one surprise i had was that the -- total layman in the intelligence, his recommendations seemed to be self-evident. >> lehrer: doing a little bit better. >> doing a little bit better. have to have a better list, better watch list and get information. and i thought it worked and i thought it was seriously. >> i was looking at the loyalty flow if you want to call it that. is he taking responsible. is he keeping a loyal team. people messed up but is he saying okay, i'm not going to publicly expose you. in the beginning of the week i thought there was fingerpointing to people beneath. >> lehrer: like what,. >> he said i'm going to make it clear this kind of behavior is to the g

it's what richard reid, the shoe bomber, tried to use previously. and it's very hard to detect.it's not obvious that these devices would have found it. >> suarez: but mahesh argues the steps taken to ensure privacy-- like blurring faces-- render people anonymous. >> what happens is, like, the person who is asking the public to scan is not there next to the scanner, he's there remotely. so, there's less chances of somebody seeing a supermodel next to the scanner, and next seeing their image and trying to sell it off to "the national enquirer" and all of those things, that has been the concern of the public, but to avoid those things. >> suarez: for rotenberg, that is just not good enough. >> i think the t.s.a. has been very misleading on this point. in fact, they're going to detect prosthetics, mastectomy scars, they're going to detect sex change operations, adult incontinence. those are the types of images that will be available to the t.s.a. operators. >> suarez: at baltimore washington international airport recently, many of the passengers we spoke with seemed comfortable bein

. >> reporter: remember the shoe bomber richard reid? he was british with a jamaican background.irty bomb conspirator jose padilla was hispanic-american. a university of texas study found that profiling high-risk categories is no better than random screening because the screeners in effect become blind to anyone that doesn't fit the profile. imagine if they're profiling only middle eastern men. would they even spot one of al qaeda's most wanted, american adam guden? and he says profiling is also ineffective because terrorists learn how to beat it, by picking people who don't fit the profile, people like a nigerian with a u.s. visa perhaps, leaving from amsterdam. now let's look at some glaring issues with the tsa, which has been operating for months without a director in place. the administration has nominated former fbi agent erroll southers for the post but south carolina senator jim demint has put a hold on that nomination. rick nelson is a former navy helicopter pilot with over 20 years of intelligence experience. rick, you say underestimating the importance of leadership in

richard reid, this is why we should try this guy in detroit in civilian court. we were wrong with him does not mean that we are run here. let us set a consistent pattern that as we move forward, let us try them in military courts. host: the headline in -- next phone call is from michigan. you are on the line. caller: here is my presidential voting record, just so everyone knows. i voted for ronald reagan, bush, perot, clinton, gore, and obama. what do you think about dick cheney coming out and calling obama weak the day after the christmas day attack? as far as information-sharing goes, you hear about things that 9/11 commission did not pick up on. able danger was blocked by a military lawyers to share information on purpose. what are your comments on that? guest: thank you. i understand some of the frustrations the former vice president may have to. repeatedly over the last 12 months, everything that is wrong with america has been blamed on the previous administration. i might prefer at this point in time to say, mr. cheney, kind of back off. i understand why h

incidents like the one on christmas day, like richard reid in 2001, carrying a british passport on aople, we would not have picked up on richard reid. i think that there is valid criticism of what, exactly, are we aiming for. i do not know that the administration has explained that fully. host: washington, missouri. republican line. caller: i was just calling to talk about the security that we have. i think that jan in the paula pagano, eric holder, and president obama -- janet napolitano, eric holder, and president obama have not taken this into account. before he can to work for us, eric holder was in a law firm that did pro bono work for terrorist. they have no clue. they think it is a joke. they will make us safe. good luck, america. guest: eric holder work for law firm that, like many big law firms, volunteered sometimes to represent some of the detainee is in the war on terror. there were many legal issues that were raised. so, his law firm was not unlike many other big ones. host: in "the baltimore sun" this morning they write "there will be an addition of more names to the go

there were people arrested in the previous administration -- richard reid, moussaoui, and others -- all of which were charged and sentenced to life in prison. just because someone is put through the legal process does not mean that we do not have other opportunities to get information from them. >> after abdulmutallab got lawyered up, did he stop talking? >> we got information and we continue to have opportunities to do that. as you come to the individuals and they recognize what they are facing, there are opportunities to talk about it. the fbi has some of the best interrogators in the world. i am confident that we will be able to work the system. he knows there are sort of things on the table. if he wants to engage with us, there are ways to do that. >> we still have the right to treat him as an enemy combatant. why not continue to do that? if h@@%@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m @ v if the system is fair, there will be found innocent. he is never going to be found innocent. it is just going to make our judicial system look more fixed, if you will to our opponents. the real answer to this is co

incidents like the one on christmas day, like richard reid in 2001, carrying a british passport on ato miami. if you criticize people from nigeria, somalia, focus on those people, we would not have picked up on richard reid. i think that there is valid criticism of what, exactly, are we aiming for. i do not know that the administration has explained that fully. host: washington, missouri. republican line. caller: i was just calling to talk about the security that we have. i think that jan in the paula pagano, eric holder, and president obama -- janet napolitano, eric holder, and president obama have not taken this into account. before he can to work for us, eric holder was in a law firm that did pro bono work for terrorist. they have no clue. they think it is a joke. they will make us safe. good luck, america. guest: eric holder work for law firm that, like many big law firms, volunteered sometimes to represent some of the detainee is in the war on terror. there were many legal issues that were raised. so, his law firm was not unlike many other big ones. host: in "the baltimore sun"

when richard reid got on the plane bush did not come in for six days. i don't remember the democrats getting on bush for allowing that. i don't remember that. this former mayor got on cnn and nobody lied -- and he lied. that was when richard read the hsu bomber, that was pre-9/11. -- that was richard reid the shoe bomber. that was the former mayor of new york. host: thank you for calling in and connecting the dots. from twitter here is a twitter from somebody. u.s. supports dictatorship and egypt with weapons. egypt arrests and tortures zoellick here -- torturous zawahiri. yemen provided the most comprehensive account on thursday of contacts between al qaeda and the nigerian accused of trying to blow up the u.s. airliner, saying he may have met with a radical cleric who previously had contact with the elected shooter at fort hood. in the weeks before he -- had contact with the shooter at fort hood. yemen's deputy prime minister said the account who oversees security issues filled in some of the planks of his movements -- fill in some of the blanks. sam,

that was - and richard reid the shoe bomber, that was pre 9/11. anybody with good sense that's followed that know it was after. that was the former mayor of new york. and - host: thanks for calling in phyllis and connecting those dots from twitter. i'm not going to try to attempt the man kerr. but u.s. supports dictatorship with egypt and weapons. they a rest and torture heree to supports al qaida. yemen connects dots on plane suspect. yemen provided the most comprehensive account on contacts between al qaida and the nigerian accused of trying blow up the u.s. airliner. and may have met with a cleric who previously had contact with alleged shooter at fort hood in texas. in weeks before he alleged attempted to bring down airliners. uma farouk abdulmutallab met with al qaida operatives in a remote mountain region that was later hit with the air strike that targeted a gathering of the groups top leader. yemen's deputy prime minister. seattle? caller: i'm really disappointed the whole system. the problem is all over our country, none of them are not n

when we can be very successful as we have been with richard reid, the issue bomber and civilian court. >> mr. kennedy. >> if we want to secure the people of america we have to not say why are we at war with al qaeda. what we need to understand is why is al qaeda at war with us. the reality is it is because we occupations in the middle east. if you're growing up, if you are a little kid and have somebody from a foreign nation walking up and down your streets with a machine gun, you are going to grow up hating that country. you are just going to. then when you turn 15, 16, 17, it's quite easy to recruit you to come over and kill us. that is what is happening. that is what has happened again and again. the reality is if we want a safer country what we need to do is not occupy these lands. we need to take and pull back the individuals who are deployed over there today. we need to take some of the money used to pay for the deployment and use that money internally to secure our borders. if we actually focused on securing america and didn't go over there and interfere in all of these people'

as i mentioned earlier, shoe bomber, richard reid, it was tried under the republican administration andthey made a decision this is where to go. it's their decision to make. if he's found guilty, and i believe he will be, and he's facing all kinds of charges, he's not going to be walking down the streets of manhattan. he will face the death penalty and that's the law of the land even though i agree with it. >> and he was treated -- >> then why didn't they bring him in front of a tribunal?jw >> he was interrogated and getting useful information and lawyering him up at our expense and that's the next difference. >> i'm going to ask the candidates a couple of rounds of questions and then we're going to have time for closing statements. but i would like to ask each of you this time, it will be directed individually to you. and i would like to raise some concerns that have been out there on the campaign trail starting with you, mr. brown. if you could answer a couple of questions.as,ñ there are those that you've been campaigning as a moderate republican but that, in fact, you're quite conser

even terrorists who reach our borders, including richard reid, all of us who travel around the worldave to take off our shoes and put them on a conveyor belt. there are extremist problems in britain, as well. the idea of putting countries or not countries on the list, has to be reexamined. as the president said in his different pitches to the moslem world weather from turkey or cairo, he wants to reach the muslim world at large singling out moslem and arab countries for this problem, i think, it causes us to lose the hearts and minds we need to hostwin. the standard should be across the board in terms of any country that has tourism or extremism problems has to be put on ballistic. also, we have to judge behavior. we cannot judge the skin color or ethnic background or religious affiliations. complaints that we received through our offices nationwide indicate that security agents are targeting some moslems because of their appearance. i believe this is ineffective and is counterproductive and communicates the wrong message. it gives a false sense of security. it says that al qaeda wil

there were people arrested in the previous administration -- richard reid, moussaoui, and others -- allf which were charged and sentenced to life in prison. just because someone is put through the legal process does not mean that we do not have other opportunities to get information from them. >> after abdulmutallab got lawyered up, did he stop talking? >> we got information and we continue to have opportunities to do that. as you come to the individuals and they recognize what they are facing, there are opportunities to talk about it. the fbi has some of the best interrogators in the world. i am confident that we will be able to work the system. he knows there are sort of things on the table. if he wants to engage with us, there are ways to do that. >> we still have the right to treat him as an enemy combatant. why not continue to do that? if he has information about future attacks, does the president not have the responsibility to do whatever is necessary to get that? >> in this instance, we felt like this was the best way to go about the case. we will proceed accordingly with each ca

secondly, richard reid, the shoe bomber, and also you were the chairman of the intelligence committeed i assume that you were capable and agreed person to correct some of the problems that previously happen, and now you were complaining because what you recommended is not even functional. so i really don't know where you are coming from, and you had eight years, you republicans. i remember the energy bill which was secret, if you recall, that was not anything obama had to do with the now you were saying the democrats are keeping things in secret. you guys kept a lot in secret and thank you for your time. >> guest: i think, i was on one of the sunday morning talk shows a couple of weeks ago. we were on with jane harman, joe lieberman and susan collins, a democrat, and independent and two republicans. the forbes worked tirelessly to do the intelligence reform bill. we were uniters and we did intelligence reform. i haven't criticized the system that we put in place other than saying we now need to take it to the next up, where we address the problem of the information sharing. we now nee

how do we know bthat the suicide bomber richard reid and his nigerian were actually travel agents -- whom? the question about the media and obama -- obviously, there were setbacks in the obama administration, including the failure is leading up to the christmas day bombing attempt, that the media has covered, and covered like they did when they happened during the bush administration. it is something that is, for the obama administration, something that they realize they will have to deal with, because they were very -- everyone was very lucky that the bomb did not go off. but how easy it can be for someone to still carry out this kind of attack. again, there was a lot of criticism of the system, at the system and the president, the president takes ownership of the system. host: there is conversation on our. page this morning about whether there is over a -- side of on our twitter page this morning about whether there is oversight of the cia. guest: there is congressional oversight, two intelligence committees, one in the house and one in the senate, created in the 1970's. they regul

do you see any reason to treat this case differently than the richard reid case in has it been your experienceey often cooperate with the government and provide useful intelligence? >> we have had a number of cases in which the the process the criminal justice process in the united states individuals have decided to cooperate in provided a tremendous intelligence. that is not to say there may not be other ways of obtaining that intelligence, but he has an answer to your questions the criminal justice system has been a fountain of intelligence in the years since september 11th. >> thank you for the answer. directory can finish with a out telling you how concerned i am as i am sure you know about the new report the committee this morning in which you talked about the killing rampant illegality with regard to attaining phone records. you know you've taken a number of steps previously to address those issues but the id recommends much more in the aegean fba to need to provide congress today with the new olc opinion that states with legal authorities the fbi has to obtain phone records. william mak

scoreboard tells us we have a strong track record of prosecuting terrorists in our courts, whether it's richard reid, the shoe bomber -- a similar mode of operation as the man who was arrested on the northwest airlines plane -- or a suspect arrested in peoria, illinois, mr. albari, who was ultimately tried in peoria, now incarcerated in marian, illinois, at the federal prison, they went through the regular court system, successfully prosecuted and put away. moussaoui, the suspected 19th terrorist on 9/11, has been given a life sentence and now is at a supermax facility at florence, colorado. we're never going to hear from him again, nor should we, but he went through our regular court system. so those who want to close off our regular court system to the prosecution of terrorists ignore the obvious. that has been the most successful way to prosecute, to incarcerate and to keep those who are accused of terrorism and to keep america safe. let's not have an automatic visceral reaction that every time a terrorist is somehow arrested, that they need to be tried at a military commission. let us give this

richard reid with the two bombings, we take our shoes -- with the shoe bombings, we take our shoes offnow you may be body scan, pat downs, different restrictions on the plane. in terms of that type of preventive security, it tends to be reactive. one of the challenges is can you get in front of innovation? interestingly, we knew that this particular type of explosive was not only developed and used by this group in al qaeda in yemen but used for an attempted assassination of a counter- terrorism chief in saudi arabia. we actually knew that this type of device was being developed and was being hidden by this group. i think one of the failures was not to actually take that into account as we were thinking about security with respect to the airports. the other thing is that at some point, you cannot be so restrictive in terms of security, that you are going to choke commercial traffic that is so important to our economy and freedom. at some point, you cannot let the terrorists to dictate how we live. it is a victory for them. so it is a balance. host: next call is from baltimore, independ

thanks to richard reid we take off our shoes at airports and none of us like to do it but to me that's a small price to pay in terms of inconvenience if it prevents the next shoe bomber in the absence of any good technology right now that prevents us from having to do that. at the opposite extreme and this goes back to something like he alluded to earlier that was the u.s. i think story a couple of years ago the nsa was trying to get a record not just of telephone calls but between someone abroad and someone here in the united states one of whom were both of whom might be connected to turner was on which of course we want the government to do that further nsa was trying to get a record of every call in the united states and that is obviously counterproductive. that puts more hay on the stack when what we need as you said is to have less hay on the stack to find the needle within. we need to strike the right balance it seems to me and we can do that but we can't have perfect security were. >> that is the point clark just made and i will expand on a couple of respects. it's how much secu