U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8), a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today released the following statement in response to President Obama’s release of the White House’s declassified account of events leading up to the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25.

“The details in this report are astonishing, and I defy anyone who reads them not to conclude that we were incredibly lucky on December 25.  This report reemphasizes what we have known since Sept. 11, 2001: our national security and intelligence agencies are failing to coordinate with one another effectively, and that is putting American lives at grave risk,” said Pascrell. 

“This great nation rose to the challenge of facing Cold War threats to national security through leadership and intelligence gathering of the C.I.A.  Today, it is vital that the United States adapt to face sometimes fragmented terrorist organizations that present the most significant threat to Americans’ safety.  Perhaps the National Counterterrorism Center is merely an extra layer of government.  Possibly the C.I.A. should be the nation’s lead counterterror agency again.  We can’t be afraid of these questions.  I look forward considering these and many others in the upcoming hearing in the House Homeland Security Committee on this failure on Dec. 25.  Furthermore, I am fully committed to working with my colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee to oversee the reforms and fix what has proved to be a broken national security apparatus.  The Congress must demand accountability.”

“I believe that providing for the security of the American people must be priority number one.  What we need to do now is to act in a non-partisan and non-political way.  There is no excuse for neglecting to protect American lives.  We are collecting the information, but unacceptable systemic failures leave too many connections unmade, amounting to a communication breakdown among our national security agencies.  I applaud President Obama for releasing this account, taking responsibility, and issuing directives designed to make Americans safer. 

###