White House defends NCTC head Michael Leiter: We said he could go on vacation after attack
BY Kenneth R. Bazinet AND James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thursday, January 7th 2010, 2:33 PM
WASHINGTON - The Obama White House rushed Thursday to defend a top counterterror official who went on a ski vacation for six days after an alleged Al Qaeda bomber attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Michael Leiter -- whose National Counterterrorism Center failed to connect dots on suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab -- came under fire for being away from his intelligence clearinghouse at the height of the crisis when it was still unknown if other terrorists were on their way to the U.S.
"Director Leiter was - throughout the events of Dec. 25, 2009 - indeed at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., and intimately involved in all aspects of the nation's response to the attempted terrorist attack-to include coordinating intelligence, examining terrorist watchlisting, and briefing Members of Congress," Denis McDonough, National Security Council chief of staff, said in a statement.
McDonough said Leiter "took six days of annual leave after the event," and did so "only after explicit consultations with both the White House and the Director of National Intelligence," Dennis Blair...