You'd think that Eric Holder would check with the Secretary of Homeland Security before making a decision to send the man behind the 9/11 attacks back to the scene of the crime for an open trial in federal court. There are all kinds of national security implications that stem from Holder's decision, some of which are actually related to the physical security of the American people. And yet...as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison found out when questioning Napolitano this morning before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Holder didn't even run this by the administration's top Homeland Security official:
Sen. Hutchison: Well, this is something we will want to watch very carefully because I think it has some pretty strong consequences if it's done and if it's not done right. Let me ask one more question and I will be finished for this round. Guantanamo Bay detainees being tried in New York, we all know the decision has been made to do that. I have two questions. Number one, were you consulted about the security issues that would surround such a trail before the Attorney General made that decision and secondly, are you going to take extra measures during that trial to protect the travelling public while that is going on in New York?
Sec. Napolitano: Well, the Department of Homeland Security is part of the review team that President Obama established in closing the prison part of Gitmo, not all of Gitmo, but where the detainees are and the answer is we have been working on a host of security issues and I will anticipate we will be working on, not just with DOJ, but also with the city of New York as they prepare for the trials.
Sen. Hutchison: So, were you consulting in the beginning before the decision was made to bring them to New York for the trial?
Sec. Napolitano: I was not, not in the sense of being consulted as to whether security concerns would preclude the ability to try them in New York, but I'm very comfortable with the decision to try them in New York.
This only further confirms what many have suspected: that left-wing ideologues at the Department of Justice -- not national security professionals -- are making the decisions on detainees. And what are the priorities of these lawyers? Before joining the Obama administration, many of them were defending these same terrorists from government prosecution. Now that they are in government, they still seem to be defending these terrorists rather than prosecuting them. And it is obvious that their primary concern is that these terrorists get all the rights the ACLU thinks they deserve. What other explanation could there be for the failure to send even a quick note over to DHS asking, "Hey, how many American lives are we putting at risk in the name of due process for jihadists?"
