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Home Front: WoT
FBI, DHS heads brief House on Boston attack
2013-04-24
The heads of the FBI and the Homeland Security Department (DHS) briefed House members on the Boston bombings Tuesday amid a wave of criticism that the agencies missed red flags that might have prevented the tragedy.

FBI Director Robert Mueller and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano have come under fire for their handling of the case, particularly their screening of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder suspect, who had been fingered by Russian intelligence for his possible ties to extremist groups.

Congressional leaders leaving Tuesday's briefing were largely silent about the details. But several leading voices on security issues made clear that they think the agencies have plenty of room for improvement.

"I can't comment on the specific information, but suffice it to say that the FBI has a lot of work to do – they've admitted as such – and that this investigation now, after the fact, has really just begun," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and a sharp critic of the FBI since the bombings.

McCaul said lawmakers are still anxious to learn if the motivation behind the attacks was "homegrown" or might have been related to Tsarnaev's trip to Russia's volatile Caucasus region.
Those options are not exclusive...
"That is the big question, and I think the question has not been answered," McCaul said. "I know that the FBI is working with the Russians to determine what the elder individual did while he was over there for six months."

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), a member of both the House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees, delivered a similar message. He called it a "detailed briefing," but was quick to note that his concerns about the nation's security procedures "are still there."

"It was a very thorough briefing, but not all of the questions have been answered," he said.

McCaul and King have sent a letter to Mueller, Napolitano and James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, suggesting the FBI's handling of Tsarnaev's trip to Russia was "an intelligence failure."
There's a whole lot there we need to know about what Tsarnaev did while in Russia, who he talked to etc. Very little of that should be made public now but we need to know that the work is going to be done and not swept under the rug.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), another member of the Homeland Security Committee, said most lawmakers are praising the response of law enforcers to the tragedy. If there were holes in the FBI's tracking of Tsarnaev after his return from Russia, Thompson said he's confident the agency will plug them.

"I think the policy that they followed will be looked at, and if a policy needs to be changed to say something else, I think the department will do it," Thompson said. "But the general tenor of what I heard is that the members have a lot of praise for professional manner in which all the federal, state and local worked together.
That being the more important point in all this...
"Hearings over the next few weeks or months will probably make some suggestions, in terms of whether or not the resources necessary to make the changes will be there remains to be seen," he added.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Interview with Case officer
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2013-04-24 13:23  

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