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Should U.S. intelligence agency personnel be fired over the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day?
Results so far:
| Yes | 43% | 52 votes | Total: 122 votes | |
| No | 57% | 70 votes |
Yes
by Charles Johnson
Created on: January 11, 2010
The personnel may be hard to find because the blame will be passed around until they are sure who was at fault. There is only one way to look at the attempted bombing - someone did not do their job. If every thing was checked, that person would not have got by the check points.This should be the last time that any of the people can work for the US intelligence agency.
If they do not get fired they would just do it again and next time, the bomber may blow up a airplane. The person who was in charge of personnel who did do their job should also be fired because they did not train the people to do the job right. We already know that everyone involved will try to put the blame of someone else.
If you were on the plane, there would not be any doubt in your mind about those people being fired. I know that everyone will make a mistake sometime, but when it involved another persons life, it should be checked more than one way.
We have all tried to do some of our jobs faster in order to make the hours go by faster. In this type of job, the person should have been told that every thing had to be checked every time. This will be the main reason why the blame should start at the bottom and go to the top.
I am sure they will all be in court trying to keep their jobs. I think someone at the US intelligence was more worried about spending the extra time and money to train the people right.
Everyone who is not trained right will never do the job right. The people at the intelligence agency knows what it takes to get the job done, they just did not do it. We may never know who loses their job because the government does not like to tell the names of who works for them. We may just hear about certain people quiting their jobs and never getting fired.
Every time someone in the government is fired it is all over the news. I am sure someone we have elected to a office will lose their job if there is nobody fired. The American people will make sure someone is fired because they are tired of the government not doing their job.
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No
by Sam Miller
Created on: January 15, 2010 Last Updated: January 16, 2010
The attempted bombing of a Detroit bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas day by Nigerian terrorist suspect, Farouk Abdul Muttalab, has called into question the ability of US intelligence agencies to detect a terrorist threat before it actually occurs.
The Christmas day bomb attempt (though a near miss) should have been detected if the intelligence leads on the suspect were followed. President Barack Obama called it, "systemic failure on the part of US intelligence operatives to check the information provided by the father of the terrorist suspect."
The Dept of Homeland Security Secretary, the CIA and other agencies, should have been placed on alert if the information provided by the father to the US Embassy in Nigeria, had been taken seriously and properly investigated. The nonchallant attitude of the US Embassey was probably what may have caused the loophole for the terrorist suspect to slip passed the vigilance of Security officials.
Even though there were obvious lapses in intelligence is this sufficient to cause those concerned their jobs? I don't think so. Where do you start from if you have to fire staff of the US intelligence agencies? It is the collective responsiblity of all Americans to keep the US safe from a terrorist attack.
However more responsibliity is placed on the intelligence arm of the Government. President Barack Obama said he accepts full responsibility as the commander-in-chief because the buck stops with him.
The US intelligence agencies I am sure, have learned that the threat of a terrorist attack from al Qaeda is very real and vigilance is the watchword at all US airports and seaports. The gathering of intelligence information should be taken seriously by the intelligence agencies (CIA)
After the 9/11 attacks on the US by the al Qaeda terrorist network in 2002, there has not been another terrorist attack on US soil, thanks largely to the measures taken to tighten security at all airports and sea ports, plus the good intelligence work of the security operatives after 9/11.
However, all this hard work can come to nought if for one moment the guards are let down by the intelligence and security operatives. The classification of countries such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and now Nigeria on a terror watch list, may be counter productive as more tighter security searches of all nationals from these countries are undertaken, although the listing of Nigeria may not be so easily justified.
More needs to be done and vigilance is the watchword to make sure the US Homeland is protected against a terrorist attack which almost occurred on Christmas thanks to the divine grace of God.
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