Intel chief says Christmas bomb case mishandled
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he was not consulted on whether Abdulmutallab should be questioned by the recently created High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG, and charged in federal court.
“That unit was created exactly for this purpose,” Blair said. “We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have.”
Blair said the decision to file criminal charges against the suspect in federal court was made “on the scene.”
“Seemed logical to the people there, but it should have been taken using this HIG format at a higher level,” Blair said.
… Under questioning by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Blair and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said they were not consulted before the decision was made to not use the high-value detainee interrogation group. Also, Michael Leiter, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he was not consulted.
“That is very troubling,” Collins said. “It appears to me that we lost an