Consider the Undie Bomber. He had to be recruited, and then vetted as a possible infiltrator. He had to be minded, so he did not call home too much and give things away (he nearly did). He had to be given a device, which would both evade scrutiny AND blow up the plane. He had to be given cash to buy his ticket, and had a minder who talked him on the plane sans-passport, indicating knowledge that his father had put him on the terrorist watch list.
This all puts together a good but not invincible human organization. Possibly with information about Undie Bomber’s father warning the CIA/State, or simply prediction if he had contacted Nigerian authorities and they had someone leak.
What was lacking in the plot was a bomb that would function properly as well as evade, and more control over the bomber (i.e. his phone call home). There reputedly was a man on the plane video taping (and perhaps streaming) the attack, and also someone who talked Abumutallab on the plane.
By contrast the CIA FOB bombing had no glitches that prevented the attack from being carried tout to devastating effectiveness. The latter shows the enemy had good intel on the targets (all killed, effectively ending CIA action in Afghanistan for probably a year or more), and technical means (a concealable bomb that worked).
Technical expertise can be bought. There are plenty of Pakistani, Saudi, Russian, and other military-spy experts in explosives who can fashion one. What is notable is the strength of the human network — including measures to get the Undie Bomber on board without his passport.
If I read Wretchard correctly, he is pointing out the traditional strengths against AQ by the US, i.e. technical expertise in code breaking and technology, given the relatively even playing field of technology as a commodity, make the US relatively weak on the human network dimension. Where clearly we are beaten.
We are going to have to submit to full body scans and abusive flight rules because the US cannot and will not create a human network, stretching from early warning to profiling. We fear more offending than denying enemy agents and rely absolutely on technical means.
The one exception seems to be Times Square, which had according to Fox News swarms of NYPD and FBI agents actively seeking suspicious people without qualms. That sort of vigilance is hard to keep up.
