“Professionalism is environmental. Amateurism is anti environmental. Professionalism merges the individual into patterns of total environment. Amateurism seeks the development of the total awareness of the individual and the critical awareness of the ground rules of society. The amateur can afford to loose.”
Marshall McLuhan
Almost like a “gimme” in the current vapors of scandal surrounding the crotch bomber Abdulmattalab, (actually crotchless now), and in support of the preceding “Guest Comment” by Poeta vir, Newsmax reported the CIA response to accusations that they, (the CIA), did not pass on information received from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, in November of this year. (http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/cia-airline-attack-obama/2009/12/30/id/345029?s=al&promo_code=9478-1)
What we can safely sumise by the unfolding events is that the established intelligence community has been so denuded and castrated by “political correctness,” that functionality is compromised on all levels. In a real world the CIA might have not only followed, but grabbed and neutralized Abdulmattalab from getting anywhere near an airplane headed for the U.S. My amateur assertion may seem simple but it is definitely reasonable. If you need further proof of how our intelligence apparatus has been screwed up, you will find it by looking at the Obama administration’s politicizing intelligence effectiveness with the formation of the NSS.
In May of 2009, Obama merged the White House staff supporting the, HSC, (Homeland Security Council), and the NSC, (National Security Council), into the NSS, (National Security Staff.) The obvious result created a new multi-level bureaucratic advisory body, controlled by the White House and inhibited by Obama’s inability to reach any speedy conclusions. Add to this the Justice Department run by Erick Holder, Obama’s lefty pal from Chicago, and the disaster in the making get more dangerous.
Additionally we must not forget the FBI, (under the Justice Department), which is attempting to suborn the CIA by overstepping it’s national law enforcement mandate and become a player in combat theater by giving terrorist’s Miranda rights and insuring they have attorney’s waiting to protect the civil, (read as constitutional rights), once they are captured; that result just one more element effecting intelligence gathering and dissemination, by shielding enemy combatants, potential intelligence sources, from interrogation.
What we have now is one big mess. It didn’t start with Obama but he somehow has the knack of developing and accelerating confusion into anything he touches. How to fix it is not in my purview. But that being said someone needs to kick the bureaucrats and political correctness flunkies out of the intelligence business; that however, will not happen under this amateurish administration. Just my opinion.
William McCullough
If I were an overseas terrorist I would sneak a once empty mayonnaise jar refilled with 3.1 ounces of my urine. Once my over 3 ounces was detected and taken from me I would cry “Foul” and file a suit against Homeland Security since I would claim my life was put in jeopardy because the seizure of my urine sample prevented lab work from being done once I entered the USA. Of course I would have no health insurance upon arrival here but I would still be entitled to this benefit that an uninsured American citzen could only procure by paying hundreds of dollars out of his/her own pocket. Then in order to defang my lawsuit the Obamacare bill would be amended to include coverage at no charge to anyone bearing urine from overseas. The logical extension of this argument will explore scatology, but let us leave that for another time.