OH, CUT IT OUT ALREADY – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  It's time for the Obama administration to take some of its ground troops aside and give them some advice on keeping the mouth shut.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. intelligence agencies did not miss a ''smoking gun'' that could have prevented an alleged attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday.

White House aide John Brennan cited ''lapses'' and errors in the sharing of intelligence and clues about the Nigerian man accused in the foiled attempt.

''There is no smoking gun,'' Brennan said. ''There was no single piece of intelligence that said, 'this guy is going to get on a plane.'''

Oh, come on, Johnny.  The man's father walked into the US Embassy in Nigeria twice to warn us about his son.  He bought a ticket in cash.  He wasn't carrying luggage.  What more do you need?  Okay, so he wasn't wearing a sign saying, "I am a terrorist.  Stop me before I blow up this plane."  Maybe he didn't have a crayon.

And get this:

Brennan is leading a White House review of the incident.

He is?  Then why is he already drawing conclusions?  Shouldn't that wait until the review is concluded?  Do you get the feeling that the purpose of the "review" is to exonerate the administration?

Brennan cited ''a number of streams of information'' -- the 23-year-old suspect's name was known to intelligence officials, his father had passed along his concern about the son's increasing radicalization -- and ''little snippets'' from intelligence channels. ''But there was nothing that brought it all together.''

Oh dear, what can one say?

''In this one instance, the system didn't work. There were some human errors. There were some lapses. We need to strengthen it. But day in and day out, the successes are there.''

Shut him up.  Right now.

January 3, 2009