Well this doesn’t instill confidence:
The White House counterterrorism adviser acknowledged Wednesday that the reason the nation’s top intelligence official was stumped on an interview question two days ago about a major set of terror arrests in Great Britain was because his staff hadn’t told him about it.
Adviser John Brennan said that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should have been kept abreast of the situation and that “steps” are being taken to ensure he’s not kept in the dark on such significant developments in the future. But Brennan defended Clapper, calling him the “consummate DNI.”
It doesn’t help that Brennan went on to defend Clapper’s ignorance on the matter.
UPDATE: At first Clapper’s office tried to blame Diane Sawyer, claiming her question was “ambiguous”, before admitting the truth. (Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations.)
Also, Janet Napolitano tries to defend Clapper:
NAPOLITANO: Well, let’s — let’s be fair. It — I knew. John Brennan knew. We also knew there was no connect that had been perceived to anything going on in the homeland and that we were in perfect connectivity with our — our colleagues in Britain. So one of the things I think that should be very clear to the American people is that those of us in homeland security who needed to know, we knew.
This is idiotic. Obviously, because the DNI’s mandate is not just the homeland. But more importantly because the US embassy was a target. (Via Hot Air.)
Internet Scofflaw 