My younger brother the pole climber for the utility always has to remind me, never assume evil plotting when just plain stupid can explain the situation. They are just not that smart.

Thank you.
ColdWarrior
No More Scozzafavas!

Yesterday I read and cannot find it just now, an article talking about the difference in how these characters are being defined, ie terrorist vs extremist – that is how the Obama administration is getting around full prosecution of these folks as true terrorists with intent to harm the United States.

Even at Christmas the upper level people are reachable and the chain of command will function, if somewhat more slowly. I don’t think I ever got called on Christmas, but I once got called by the COS on New Years’ Day and told to catch the next plane to Anchorage. I mumbled a lot and then didn’t do it because I knew I wouldn’t be able to find anybody. I just caught the first plane the next morning and nobody knew the difference. Government rarely does anything that can’t be put off for awhile.

I thought about FOIA but doubt you’d get what you suggested. The problem, still, is the chain of command was circumvented…which had to come from the top…but when my boss’s boss calls me and tell to me “jump”, i still gotta run it thru the boss. Remember, this was Christmas, no one was in the office.

All I want from this is that someone up on the hill ask some questions that weren’t asked the first go round.

I don’t think you’re all wet; the fundamental conclusion has to be that either somebody really screwed up, unlikely but possible, or the decisions were made at the very top. In my experience, saying “no” and bucking it up is the default position on EVERYTHING that might be controversial or involve more work. I think you said you’d worked in government so you know that by the time you reach mid-management, upward delegation is your worst enemy. Government is the one place where crap flows upstream. If that call came first to the local FBI, that SAIC’s career indicator light started flashing very brightly and he’d be looking real hard for somebody to take responsibility for the near take-down of a widebody over an American city.

No matter, but it would have been nice had those details been made public. The “viewing citizenry” as proven her at RedState, is no longer a dullwitted mob content with 20 seconds of sound bytes.

I can’t imagine an end game, it just doesn’t make sense.

But I am surprised Boehner’s side of the house isn’t kicking up a fuss (I expect the Senate side to be comliant.)

Actually, why I posted this was to kick up some dust, but my resaerch skills are not as good as others, and interestingly, a lot of the original film of the senate testimony is hard to find anymore.

There are a couple of other scenarios as to how the aircrew might have given notice but in this day and age no matter how that notice was given, it would have been sent to the top of the chain almost immediately. Because the plane was on approach at the time, the flight crew might have made contact directly with the Detroit tower, but that doesn’t seem likely because nobody has mentioned the FAA having a part in this. The flight crew might also have contacted their Detroit station agent, but any company the size of Delta would have an SOP requiring a station agent to contact airline management, but the station agent might have contacted Detroit local law enforcement. If that were the case, the Detroit SAIC might have been the first federal contact but the FBI is a supremely rule-bound organization so notice of the event would have gone screaming up the chain to Holder.

I’ve never been a federal cabinet officer trying to contact a President, but I’ve had to try to track down a cabinet officer and a governor on more than a few ocassions and an hour or so to work the chain would comport with my experience and it was about an hour or so before the determination was made.