WASHINGTON — White House national security
adviser James Jones says Americans will feel "a certain
shock" when they read an account being released Thursday
of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas
Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.
President Obama "is legitimately and correctly
alarmed that things that were available, bits of information
that were available, patterns of behavior that were available,
were not acted on," Jones said in an interview Wednesday
with USA TODAY.
"That's two strikes," Obama's top White House aide
on defense and foreign policy issues said, referring to the
foiled bombing of the Detroit-bound airliner and the shooting
rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. In that case, too,
officials failed to act when red flags were raised about an
Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan. He has been charged with
killing 13 people.
Jones said Obama "certainly doesn't want that third strike,
and neither does anybody else."
