WH Terror Counsel: 'System Didn't Work'

Forget Janet Napolitano, the system that let a would-be Nigerian suicide bomber aboard a Detroit-bound flight didn't work, White House Counterterrorism Adviser John Brennan told State of the Union today—though "every other day the system has worked this year." "There was no smoking gun. There was no piece of intelligence that said this guy is a terrorist who is going to get on a plane. It was a failure to integrate," he told Fox News Sunday. Elsewhere:

• As for the closing of the US embassy in Yemen, where the bomber was thought to have trained, Brennan said, “We are very concerned about al-Qaeda’s continued growth there."
• Of Dick Cheney's recent criticism of President Obama, Brennan had harsh words: "The vice president or others are either willfully mischaracterizing President Obama's actions or are ignorant of the facts."
• Speaking of Napolitano, Susan Collins has confidence in her, but "her initial comments were bizarre and inappropriate."
• The failed Detroit bomber "did us a favor," former 9/11 Commission chair Thomas Kean told State of the Union. “They weren’t giving this enough attention,” he said. "It’s understandable, it’s not acceptable.”
• Claire McCaskill laid waste to Jim DeMint over blocking Errol Southers' nomination to lead the TSA, reports Politico. “This is the right guy for the job. With all due respect, this is nuts holding him up.”
• DeMint fired right back, saying the lapse started at the top: Obama has "been completely distracted by other things, and he has not focused on building the security and intelligence apparatus of our country,” DeMint said.

(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)