WASHINGTON — Congressman Mike Coffman, R-Colo., joined 10 other Republican lawmakers this week in asking President Barack Obama to fire Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, calling her lack of response to the country’s security problems “alarming.”
Napolitano has been under attack by Republicans since the Christmas Day bombing attempt on an American airliner, a drumbeat that has continued over the past two weeks as evidence mounted that intelligence agencies held clues prior to the attack.
“There should be no tolerance for her lack of leadership,” said the letter sent to Obama on Thursday. “If Secretary Napolitano refuses to resign, it is imperative for the security of the United States that you dismiss her immediately.”
Among the flaws in anti-terror security apparently revealed by the plot was that the bomber — a Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — was on a terrorist watch list but was not on a no-fly list that would have prevented him from boarding an international flight to Detroit.
He wore no winter coat and had no luggage, two clues that apparently went ignored by security officials in Amsterdam, where he boarded.
Obama has conceded that the incident uncovered problems in America’s security network put in place after Sept. 11, 2001, and has ordered fixes, but so far has stood by Napolitano.
