Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Imagine how great a threat Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a Nigerian banker, must have considered his son to be for him to make the agonizing decision to turn him in. Now consider officials’ reticence in assigning the son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to a 4,000-person no-fly list in light of the fact that they must always fear the possibility of being investigated by a Congressional committee for decisions deemed later to be overzealous.

This possible explanation for official inaction is missing from the analysis in your editorial. You could have included it in place of the overwrought attempt to hang this latest terrorist attempt on our previous administration.

Margaret McGirr
Greenwich, Conn., Dec. 30, 2009

Note from KBJ: The letter writer must not realize that political correctness is a categorical imperative. Not even the safety of American citizens is more important. We saw that in the Fort Hood massacre and we see it here.