A former official from the Bush administration said Monday that the suspect who planned to blow up a US airline should not be given constitutional protection. The comment was made by Tom Ridge, the Department of Homeland Security secretary from 2003-2005, on the programme ‘Larry King Live’ on CNN.
“I take a look at this individual who has been charged criminally, does that mean he gets his Miranda warnings? The only information we get is if he volunteers it?” he said.
“He’s not a citizen of this country. He’s a terrorist, and I don’t think he deserves the full range of protections of our criminal justice system embodied in the Constitution of the United States.”
The report that two former detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba were involved in the alleged failed attack of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab also did not come as a surprise to the former secretary.
“It’s a symptom of a larger challenge that this country has, and that’s how do you adjudicate these individuals that we pick up from these places and make a determination if they should be incarcerated for a long time, if not permanently,” he added.
Ridge emphasised that gaps are still evident in relation to information sharing.
“Whether you’re in the battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan or a screener at the airport, you need actionable information. I’m not sure all this information was in the hands of TSA at the time,” said Ridge.
The secretary also attacked the State Department for not rejecting AbdulMutallab’s visa despite a warning that came from his father that he was linked to terrorists.
