Why didn't the intelligence agencies catch ExplosiveUnderpants?

[struggle4progress]

Poll question: Why didn't the intelligence agencies catch ExplosiveUnderpants?

There seem to have been enough indications: his father alerted the US Embassy; he bought a one-way ticket with cash; he'd been in Yemen ...

[old mark]

1. They are behaving like independent bureaucratic agencies - they won't

share information with others - they want to make their "partners" look bad and themselves look good. They have lost sight of the idea that they actually serve a greater purpose.

This happens frequently to military type organizations.


mark

[elleng]

2. Happens in ALL types of organizations!

LOTS of agencies have some sort of 'antitrust' authority! And they ain't the army or the navy!

[old mark]

6. Sure, but the military is famous for this - nt

[Rhiannon12866]

3. On "Meet the Press," Chertoff said that the Dutch refuse to use body scanners,

Because they value the right to privacy over security, and that would have detected it. Personally, I don't trust Chertoff, but that's what he said... :shrug:

[struggle4progress]

4. Last week the Dutch said the Americans had pressured them not to use body scanners

for American-bound flights; the Dutch said the US government in the Bush era had cited privacy concerns. I'm inclined to think Chertoff knows that and is engaged in some strategic historical revisionism

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Ah, ha! Makes sense to me...

Chertoff may also have a personal axe to grind because David Gregory revealed that Chertoff had something business-wise to do with the body scanners that the Dutch refused to use. x(