Revisit Issues of National Security

Dan Riehl has been closely tracking the terrorist attempt yesterday to blow up an airplane in Detroit. He's the first that I've seen to post the same theory that's been in the back of my mind, which is

I'm wondering if this wasn't a probing attack to test a new detonation device with more skilled and experienced Al Qaeda operatives looking to capitalize somehow down the line.

The left is foaming at the mouth over Rep. Pete Hoekstra's comment yesterday that this attack is somehow connected to Obama's weak stance on national security. Via Memeorandum, Steve Benen writing for The Washington Monthly calls him a "shameless buffoon" for saying this:

"It's not surprising," U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Holland Republican, said of the alleged terrorist attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit. ... "People have got to start connecting the dots here and maybe this is the thing that will connect the dots for the Obama administration," Hoekstra said.

Both Hoekstra and Dan Riehl seem to be saying the same thing - this isn't the last attack attempt we're likely to see. I'll go one further and say that if the Obama administration doesn't quit releasing terrorists into the wild and doesn't toughen up the rhetoric on national security, then we'll see more of these attempts, failed or not, in the future. This is a lesson we've learned in the past, and now apparently forgotten.

Think Progress accuses Hoekstra of only attempting to score "cheap political points" with his statement simply because he hadn't yet been briefed on the incident.

I haven't been briefed and I'm scoring no political points. But it's pretty clear to me that a terrorist attack of some sort was attempted yesterday, although there are many on the left who hesitate to even call it that. Folks in the comments section of both the Think Progress post and the Washington Monthly post, are alternately blaming Bush (for letting small amounts of liquids on planes after 9/11), and the Dutch and Nigerians who let the guy on the plane in the first place.

To be clear, so the left can understand, I'm not blaming Obama for not personally searching every single passenger. I'm saying the national security policies of this administration are ignoring the lessons of the past -- not necessarily with this incident alone, but in general.

Pete Hoekstra's concern with security breaches is admirable, in my opinion. These issues need to be revisited by this administration. Bringing terrorists to New York City for trial is one example. Housing them in Thomson, Illinois is another. Closing Gitmo, another. Releasing detainees to Yemen, Afghanistan, Somaliland is another.