President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday that lawmakers and others are using national security to score political points and defended the handling of the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner.
Deputy national security adviser John Brennan complained that politicians, many of them Republicans, were unfairly criticizing the administration for partisan purposes and second-guessing the case with a "500-mile screwdriver" that reaches from Washington to the scene of the abortive attack in Detroit.
Brennan said he had personally briefed top Republican lawmakers on Christmas night about the arrest of accused bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and that none of them raised objections.
"There's been quite a bit of an outcry after the fact, where again, I'm just very concerned on behalf of counterterrorism professionals throughout our government, that politicians continue to make this a political football and are using it for whatever political or partisan purposes," he said.
GOP leaders briefed
Among those he said he briefed were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner; and the top Republicans on the congressional intelligence committees, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan.
"None of those individuals raised any concerns with me at that point," Brennan said.
Republicans have been outspoken in criticizing the administration for treating Abdulmutallab as a civilian and reading him his rights to remain silent and retain a lawyer.
Brennan said that Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, was treated no differently than any other terror suspect arrested on U.S. soil and that the FBI and others involved in his arrest acted appropriately.
"I think those counterterrorism professionals deserve the support of our Congress," he said. "And rather than second-guessing what they are doing on the ground with a 500- mile screwdriver from Washington to Detroit, I think they have to have confidence in the knowledge and the experience of these counterterrorism professionals."
Brennan said he was confident that the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would face the "full weight of American justice" when he is tried no matter what the venue.
The administration had wanted to try Mohammed in New York but backtracked on that plan under criticism, which has included calls for him to be tried by a military tribunal and not a civilian court.
U.S. justices system 'will prevail'
"I have no doubt that the American justice system will prevail. Despite the claims and the criticisms of a lot of folks, including in Congress, that our judicial system is unable to handle these terrorists, I believe that our system of justice here is strong," Brennan said.
"And I'm not going to give al-Qaida the victory of being able to overturn our system of jurisprudence here that is anchored in our Constitution and reflects our values as a people," he said.
Brennan said he was confident that the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would face the "full weight of American justice" when he is tried no matter what the venue.
Brennan spoke on NBC television's "Meet the Press."