Louder note of concern

The Oregonian, Portland: What did we learn from President Barack Obama’s turn at the microphone Tuesday? That America does a better job of collecting intelligence than analyzing it. That lives were endangered because some people in the intelligence community failed to do their jobs. And the president is ticked off.

Full cry

Each day further removed from Christmas Day, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb in his underwear aboard a plane landing in Detroit, brings a louder note of urgent concern. From the initial downplaying of the episode by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the president now has accelerated to full cry. His clenched-jaw comments Tuesday made it clear that federal careers will certainly be ended over this incident, and traveling passengers are sure to encounter some new difficulties in boarding airplanes when screening procedures are enhanced.

Abdulmutallab is behind bars and his case is proceeding toward a legal disposition, but the storm he triggered is still rising behind closed doors in Washington, Kabul, Islamabad, Lagos, San’a and elsewhere.