Janet Napolitano

Despite concern from the left about the potential for Rep. Peter King's Homeland Security Committee hearings would unfairly "[single] out an entire community, such as Muslim Americans," this morning's hearing with Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano and Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, focused primarily on the efficacy of the government's counterterrorism efforts with regard to homegrown Islamic terrorism. But for a brief five minutes, Democrat Bennie Thompson, the ranking member on the committee, brought the focus to what he considers a great threat to homeland security: anti-tax groups.

A federal lawsuit is never a laughing matter – especially when the U.S. Department of Justice signs the complaint.  But the Obama administration's complaint against Arizona faces serious obstacles in the federal courts.

Two weeks ago President Obama fired his top intelligence adviser—or at least the man who held the title.

An FBI official says Faisal Shahzad was put on a no-fly list hours before his arrest, but he was apprehended on a flight he booked on the way to the airport and which he paid for in cash.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while refusing to criticize agencies, said the suspect was "clearly on the plane and shouldn't have been." An FBI official said Shahzad was placed on No Fly list hours before his arrest.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pressing the Obama administration on questions about the handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, and makes some news in the process.  McConnell notes that several top national security officials offered disturbing testimony yesterday on Capitol Hill about the decisionmaking process on Abdulmutallab -- or why there wasn't one.  This leads McConnell to seek answers to "several troubling questions."

Neither the determination of al Qaeda, nor the tactic used in this incident seem particularly shocking or new. Perhaps this kind of thing has something to do with a news search for "Napolitano" today bringing up three calls for her resignation.

A former intelligence officer called my attention to the, as he put it, "creepy" statement Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair issued yesterday: