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| U.S. Responded to Plot With Speed, Secrecy |
| 2006-08-14 |
| LRR It was the last week of July, heading into the lazy dog days of official Washington, but Michael Chertoff was suddenly busy. The homeland security secretary discreetly asked subordinates about plans developed months or even years ago, focused on aviation safety, threat levels and other minutiae. In briefings, he quizzed staffers about responses to an aviation threat: What was the default plan for going to "orange alert"? What items can we ban from airplanes if we need to? Those taking the questions -- including many of Chertoff's closest aides -- had no idea what was really going on, two senior counterterrorism officials said. Chertoff's stealthy information-gathering was just one example of the U.S. government's secretive response to an emerging terrorist plot, in which at least 41 suspects were arrested in Britain and Pakistan in connection with alleged plans to blow up jetliners as they flew from London to the United States. Until the last hours, details of the British probe were confined to a limited coterie of U.S. Cabinet members and senior officials, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who were involved or have since been briefed. The approach ensured that no advance word of the operation leaked out -- but also meant that airlines, airports and even the Transportation Security Administration had only a few hours to ramp up sweeping new measures after being alerted to the threat late Wednesday night. . . . Go read the rerst of it. It sure seems like DHS handled the situation properly. Note in particular the emphasis on operational security--neither the bad guys nor the New York Times (but I repeat myself) got wind of what was coming down. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Correction of the correction is in order: the bad guys intelligence agency: the New York Times didn't get wind what was coming down. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-08-14 22:48 |
| #2 This whole thing is a vindication of the NSA program and proof that the NYT and the moonbats are dead wrong. I wish I heard more about this angle. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-08-14 10:33 |
| #1 neither the bad guys nor the New York Times got wind of what was coming down Correction is in order: the bad guys (including the New York Times) got no wind of what was coming down. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-08-14 08:00 |