by Daniel G. O'Leary

Created on: December 30, 2009   Last Updated: April 26, 2010

The subject "Recognizing a Terrorist", has probably never gotten more air time, more media coverage, more public attention, stimulated more conversation, more debate than now. Why? Because of the scrutiny being given to the topic as a result of the failed attempt to blow-up a Northwest  Airline plane as it neared its final destination of Detroit, Michigan on Christmas day 2009.

The terrorist (and you won't hear me saying alleged terrorist, if the guy had an explosive in his underwear and attempted to detonate it for the purpose of instilling fear and panic in the minds and hearts of Americans, he is a terrorist), went undetected, un-recognized, un-challenged because of a lack of communication between government agencies within our own country, and a lack of intelligence sharing and timely communication between those same agencies with their counterparts in allied government agencies.

That particular terrorist had been identified by his own father in person to an agent of our CIA (as reported by damn near every News agency in our country by now), weeks before the attempted act. Think about this; a father feels in his heart the necessity to make known to a foreign government (the U.S.), that his son, his child, has gone down the wrong path (in his opinion), a path of extremism that most likely would end with his son causing harm to others / if not death. The agent takes the information and does whatever he feels is correct. The father leaves and weeks pass, the son still is not apprehended. Worse, the son's movements are not even monitored, his travel not restricted. As a direct result of "timely and accurate" information (the father identifying his son, providing  his son's visa / passport information, stating his concerns that his son had gone down the wrong path, giving officials his son's last known whereabouts), this guy should have been on every damn watch list, every apprehend with extreme caution / detain list, and most likely on every "drop" list known and used in the counter-terrorist world.

That he was able to walk right onto a plane in two international airports with explosives on his body bound for the United States with the intent to blow the plane up over American soil, and then carry-out the act (although it failed to produce the desired result), is proof of the failure of those entrusted with gathering and sharing intelligence for the purpose of safe-guarding "WE the People of the United States" (from the Constitution). A man "recognized

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