The failures that allowed the unsuccessful Christmas Day terrorist
attack have marred President Barack Obama's relaxation schedule in
Hawaii, CBS's Jeff Glor and Chip Reid regretted Thursday night as Reid
fretted Obama had "hoped to spend this vacation recharging his batteries, but now he appears to be spending most of it working" and assured viewers Obama is moving fast to protect Americans: "The President has immersed himself in the details of the review and that individuals will be held accountable, but the top priority now is to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Fill-in CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor reported Obama "received
the first report on the security failures leading up to the Christmas
day attack," and though for days after the incident Obama played golf
and on Thursday went to see the Avatar movie with his daughters, Glor
suggested to Reid the workload means "this is not the vacation the President planned, is it?" Reid agreed, seeing a burden on Obama:
It is not, Jeff. He had hoped to spend this vacation recharging his batteries, but now he appears to be spending most of it working. For New Year's Eve, he'll be reviewing nearly a dozen new reports from homeland security agencies, all part of a massive effort to figure out what went wrong.
From the Thursday, December 31 CBS Evening News:
JEFF GLOR: Today the President received the first report on the security failures leading up to the Christmas day attack. Our Chip Reid is in Honolulu where the President is spending the holidays and, Chip, this is not the vacation the President planned, is it?
CHIP REID: It is not, Jeff. He had hoped to spend this vacation recharging his batteries, but now he appears to be spending most of it working. For New Year's Eve, he'll be reviewing nearly a dozen new reports from homeland security agencies, all part of a massive effort to figure out what went wrong.
The reports are from an alphabet soup of federal agencies, including the CIA, NSA, FBI and TSA. Officials say the President has immersed himself in the details of the review and that individuals will be held accountable, but the top priority now is to make sure it doesn't happen again. To that end, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is dispatching a team of officials to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America to review passenger screening on U.S. bound flights....
File under putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center