Hours after Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, told a Senate panel that he thought the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) should
“My remarks today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs have been misconstrued,” Blair said in a statement just emailed to reporters. “The FBI interrogated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when they took him into custody. They received important intelligence at that time, drawing on the FBI’s expertise in interrogation that will be available in the HIG once it is fully operational.”
Yes, that means Blair attributed responsibilities for interrogation in the Abdulmutallab case to an entity that doesn’t actually exist yet. And he’s the top intelligence official in the United States. I don’t know who “misconstrued” his remarks, either, but that’s the way to save face, I suppose.