Gen. James Clapper is tasked with coordinating everything the nation knows about terrorism and national security. It is less than comforting to watch Diane Sawyer's revealing interview with our nation's top terror team and see Clapper appear to know less about the arrests of 12 people in London as part of a potential holiday terror plot than anybody who watched TV during the day.
When Sawyer asked about London, and "how safe is it? Any implication that it was coming here? Director Clapper?" Clapper answers: "London?"
Sawyer--who kindly let Secretary Janet Napolitano's gaffe about America's anti-terror forces being on the job "24/7, 364″ slip without calling her on it, did not let this one go--and rightfully so:
SAWYER: I was a little surprised you didn't know about London.
CLAPPER: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't.
After the interview, Clapper's office--in fast-moving damage control--issued a statement to ABC News:
"The question about this specific news development was ambiguous. The DNI's knowledge of the threat streams in Europe is profound and multi-dimensional, and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate."
UPDATE: After suggesting that the problem wasn't sheer ignorance, but rather Diane Sawyer's "vague" question, the office of the DNI now admits Clapper, essentially, had no clue about what had happened in London.
The nation's Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, now admits he knew nothing about the key arrests in London of 12 suspects in a sweeping terror investigation when he sat down to talk about the nation's anti-terror defenses with ABC's Diane Sawyer.
ODNI spokesperson Jamie Smith, working damage control, issued this statement:
Clapper, she explained, had been "working throughout the day on important intelligence matters, including monitoring military and political developments on the Korean Peninsula, providing answers to questions concerning the ratification of the START nuclear treaty, and other classified issues. He wasn't immediately briefed on London because it didn't appear to have a homeland nexus and there was no immediate action by the DNI required. Nevertheless, he should have been briefed on the arrests, and steps have been taken to ensure that he is in the future. The intelligence community as a whole was fully aware of this development and tracking it closely."
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