Mukasey: Surprise is the most surprising thing about terror threats

Michael Mukasey told reporters today that the most surprising aspect of the terror threat against the US is that he still gets surprised by its scope. The threat comes from so many directions that it has other Western nations spooked and anxious to work with the US to defend against it. And given that, Mukasey was very surprised that Congress took a vacation while leaving FISA reform unfinished:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been taken aback by the scope and variety of potential terrorism threats facing the United States, he told reporters Friday at an informal meeting in his office. …

“It’s surprising how varied [the threat] is, how many directions it comes from, how geographically spread out it is,” he said. …

The attorney general said that after meeting with his European law enforcement counterparts last week in Slovenia, he understands their degree of anxiety as well.

“They’re all concerned, and they’re all looking for ways to cooperate with the United States and with one another,” he said.

Mukasey reminded reporters that fatwas don’t come with an expiration date, unlike FISA reform legislation. The telecoms had balked at providing information in the first days of the expiration, but the AG told reporters that the problems had been mostly resolved. Intelligence got missed, though, and it’s impossible to tell whether the US lost a critical datapoint for preventing another attack.

Unless, of course, we all get a surprise.

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