'We had bits and pieces of information,'' [White House terrorism adviser John] Brennan said on CNN's ''State of the Union.'' The father's warning, he said, was ''one set of data.''But Brennan said other information available didn't provide the details needed to map it and attach it to Abdulmutallab.
''What we need to do as an intelligence community, as a government, is be able to bring those disparate bits and pieces of information together so we prevent Mr. Abdulmutallab from getting on the plane.'' ...NYT
There should have been a close tracking of Abdulmutallab after his father warned us that he had made threats. There should have been close tracking of him when the Brits refused him a visa (albeit for other reasons than terrorism). There should have been an immediate warning attached to those intersecting tracks when the suspect paid cash for his ticket in Schipol Airport.
But we have several intelligence systems in the US, each sticking to its own territory. The chances of connecting the dots -- in this case brightly lit, blinking dots! -- seem to be small.
Kind of makes you wonder whether America has become a nation of dots and no connections. Kind of looks that way.
