Fox News has this blockbuster story on American Al-Qaeda Imam being invited to a lunch in 2002 inside the Pentagon. Despite ties to three of the 9-11 hijackers, and arrests for soliciting a prostitute, the Pentagon’s office of general counsel found Anwar al-Awlaki a suitable person to make a presentation to top brass on Islam and Middle East culture.
The story notes:
A former high-ranking FBI agent told Fox News that at the time Awlaki went to lunch at the Pentagon, there was tremendous “arrogance” about the vetting process at the Pentagon.
“They vetted people politically and showed indifference toward security and intelligence advice of others,” the former agent said.
But one single person seems to be responsible for this mess, a female lawyer in the Office of General Counsel who was responsible for vetting al-Awlaki:
The Defense Department lawyer who vetted the imam wrote that she “had the privilege of hearing one of Mr. Awlaki’s presentations in November and was impressed by both the extent of his knowledge and by how he communicated that information and handled a hostile element in the audience.”
The story does not reveal the identity of the culpable lawyer. If ever there was a time for accountability, this is it.
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