Israel Matzav: Napolitano coming to Israel

Napolitano coming to Israel

US Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano will be arriving in Israel on Saturday night, presumably to see how a real security system for air transportation works.

Napolitano will meet with officials from the Public Security Ministry and visit elite Israel Police units.

On Sunday, she appeared on ABC television's This Week program to discuss the attempted terrorist attack on a US airliner over Detroit.

Napolitano said investigators did not have enough information to keep the suspect, 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, from boarding his flight to the US from Amsterdam, and that the system worked as it should have.

The father of the man accused of attempting to blow up the jetliner had told US officials in Nigeria he was concerned about his son's extreme religious views. However, Napolitano argued there was no specific information to place Mutallab on a no-fly list.

Napolitano says that within 60 to 90 minutes of the incident, all 120 flights that were in the air at time were contacted to make sure the attempted bombing did not extend beyond the flight to Detroit.

Even Homeland Security didn't have enough information to keep Mutallab off the plane (and it sounds like they did), he should at least have had his passport checked at the airport and he should at least have been searched!

Moreover, 60 to 90 minutes was about the same time it took to notify all the other planes in the air on 9/11. But 9/11 was a busy weekday, and Northwest 253 flew on Christmas day, one of the quietest days of the year. That has to make you wonder whether anything has improved since 9/11.

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Israel Matzav: Napolitano coming to Israel