The more I look at these White House press briefings, the more I don’t understand why Helen Thomas was, apparently, the only regular reporter to catch this guy. Here is a further sampling of questions he posed. Note particularly the alert attention to nonexistent issues that could benefit the White House, the absence of any [...]

From the transcripts, there is little doubt that “Jeff Gannon” tried to deflect any criticism of the White House re Iraq or domestic security, by any means:     Go ahead, Jeff.[November 5, 2003] Q I know that you said you hadn’t seen the Rockefeller memo that Jim referred to, but I have, and it [...]

(Clarke’s Jan. 25, 2001, memo to Condoleezza Rice, now public, supports his testimony.)   Former security advisor Dick Clarke, from both the Clinton and the Bush administrations, testified before the 9/11 Commission March 24, 2004, also appearing on talk shows and CBS’ 60 Minutes.  He also had a book coming out, critical of the White [...]

The narrative below was forwarded to me by a respected expert in aviation security, who says it was sent to him in turn “by one of the very few people in TSA I hold in the highest esteem, for honor, integrity, and true understanding/knowledge of aviation security concepts.” The message starts by commenting that references [...]

Since I’m going to be on Meria Heller’s radio program today, I wanted to clarify my thinking about last night’s State of the Union address beforehand. Two major points, re the speech: (1) few surprises; and (2) heartbreak.   The heartbreak must be fought. So – let’s start with those items in the SOTU that offer [...]