Obama's Speech on Security Confuses Action with Results

President Obama spoke tonight as "middle manager in chief," using the same language and approach that a corporate division head would use in acknowledging a product failure. Over the last two weeks he has reluctantly moved from "the system failed" to realizing that, truly, the "buck" stops in his office, and his policies hold sway over our intelligence operations. His speech suggests that he doesn't yet know what to do about that.

His solutions as presented in his speech are to the problems in "the system," such as new technologies like full-body scanners, and more old technologies in the form of longer no-fly lists. He didn't effectively address the overarching problem of Americans directly exposed to violence from terrorism. If all the problems are fixed perfectly but Americans still die from these acts, a leader will have failed, while a middle manager will point to the fact that he "fixed the problems" which is all that his job entails. As Obama noted in his speech, "there is no foolproof solution."

The President has been accused of believing that The Government can fix whatever is broken. In taking responsibility for the security failures he said he has a "sworn responsibility to protect" us. And "when the system fails, it is my responsibility." In a way, he seems to be saying that he is the "single point of failure" which system designers seek to avoid. Americans have turned to waiting for government solutions to our national problems, from financial woes to terrorism. And so, we are set up to fail if our faith is poorly placed.

The point that the President missed once again in this speech is the strength of millions that this country has to offer. Fox News reported that the recent TSA security lapse in New Jersey let an unscreened civilian sneak into a secure area, but an alert citizen waiting for relatives spotted an reported the incident. CERT training initiated years ago provides well trained citizens to augment government awareness and response in limited roles as well. We're not using our biggest resource, our people.

Leaders of the past have recognized this strength and called on the people in times of war, economic struggles, or natural disaster. Even "Code Adam" missing child alerts recognize that the public has an important role in public safety as well.

I am still waiting for the fix that I believe many Americans seek, bold policy decisions that both admit to the problem as a whole (whether called "war" or not) and recognize that the President is at the center of "the system" and his leadership, not his control, is the engine that makes it run or lets it fail.

Fox News and AP, TSA Allegedly Waited 80 Minutes Before Reporting Security Breach at N.J. Airport, Fox News

Remarks by the President on Strengthening Intelligence and Aviation Security , The White House

Citizen Corps, CERT: Community Emergency Response Teams, Department of Homeland Security

Code Adam , National Center for Missing and Exploited Children