Flight 253's Report Release

We're just a few hours away from the release of a White House report of the attempted Christmas Day plane bombing by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The report, which is believed to contain details on how Abdulmutallab, already a known threat, was still allowed to board the Detroit-bound flight.

Even though more then eight years have passed since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and even after the very public 911 Commission, American security agencies continued to be hampered by their dyslexic relationships, whereas intelligence is hoarded and not shared. The Adulmutallab incident appears to be another case of agencies either unable, or unwilling, to communicate with others. In this case, it appears that Adulmutallab was flagged as a possible threat in November when his father approached the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria with fears that his son could be a possible threat. That information was apparently relayed to American intelligence Departments and agencies, including the FBI, CIA, U.S. State and Justice Departments, and Homeland Security. At that point, it appears communication broke down, and nothing was done to keep Adulmutallab off that flight.

There's been wide speculation that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and/or National Security Advisor James Jones will eventually resign over this incident, but I cannot imagine President Obama is prepared or willing to take the political hit that would result from such high level resignations. It is clear that he's read the riot act to both Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Jones, which probably means they're each going to get one more chance to get the intelligence agencies to start working cooperatively with each other.

If there's another highly publicized security breach, it's a good bet that one, or both, will be fired.