a top counterterrorism official says the pace has been relentsless. the past 13 months have been as intense it if not more intense because of the variety of threats than anytime since 2001. and no one sees the tempo slowing. we ve even all of these various threat streams coming together and hitting a confluence at the end of december here. so i think that trend will continue into 2011. al qaeda central remains a threat, so is the pakistani taliban which launched the attempted times square bombing. and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they dispatched the christmas day bomber and the toner cartridge cargo bombs. in the past two years, nearly 50 american citizens have been
oregon. a top counterterrorism official says the pace has been relentless. i can tell you that the past 13 months have been as intense, if not more intense, because of the variety of threats than any time since 2001. reporter: and no one sees the tempo slowing. we have seen all of these various threat streams kind of coming together and kind of hitting a confluence at the end of december here. so i thank you trend is going to continue into 2011. reporter: al qaeda central remains a threat. so is the pakistani taliban, which launched the attempted times square bombing. and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, they dispatched the christmas day bomber and the toner cart train cargo bombs. in the past two year, nearly 50 american citizens have been charged with serious terrorism offenses and experts say home-grown radicalization will continue to be nurtured by the internet, including the online preachings of u.s.-born cleric,
there was all that criticism of the so-called stovepiping. one agency wasn t talking to another agency. if they gathered information, they weren t sharing it. that was all supposed to be fixed, rectified by the legislation that, for example, created the director of national intelligence. they were supposed to be sharing information. to a much greater degree, they have established an office simply to do just that. last year, the christmas day bomber, the underwear bomber, the failed bombing from abu mutallab. the counterstritch expert john brennan said just that, that the, remember, that information was passed along from his family. he went to yemen to get training and that ended up in the failed attempt. that set off a change of events. an interesting item in new york
or reporters covering him really take a break? gordon jandreau was spokesman for president bush. we spent many a christmases and new years together in crawford, but mike was sort of making light there. it is a lot of tough work. there s an interesting piece the new york times today, how the president, can he really ever get away and the communication issues that are in inherent in being away from the white house. right. the president is always the president and his staff always has to be around. they can relax a little more, get out of the white house, but they have to stay on top of issues, especially national security. i notice that president obama has a top kind of chair, because there are so many threats going on now. they realize after last christmas, they better stay on top of these issues. the christmas day bomber
secretary bill burton, the president also talked to the eagles owner about the green technology being used in his team s stadium. today, because that s what they do, fox news got outraged. but it is controversial that the president has made this something vital enough to pick up the phone and make a phone call during christmas vacation. it s almost a year ago where the christmas day bomber almost blew up his crotch and blow up the plane and the president didn t speak about that for a couple days before. but this is something he had to make a phone call about. some feel this is not presidential. let us know what you think. the criticism is to specifically praise giving michael vick this kind of a chance in some way excuses, perhaps, what michael vick did or sends some sort of a message to people that it s not that bad. you know, i know a president who actually excused what an ex-felon did. scooter libby, convicted of obstruction of justice and