Dina Titus slams homeland security chief over ‘blunder’

By Lisa Mascaro

Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 | 10:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Rep. Dina Titus cut no slack for Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, saying the secretary committed a “terrible blunder” by suggesting the nation’s airport security system worked following the thwarted Christmas Day terrorist attack.

The congresswoman is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, which convened an emergency conference call after the Christmas incident and plans to hold a hearing later this month in Washington.

“That was a terrible blunder and a big mistake that she said that,” Titus told the Las Vegas Sun. “It’s discouraging that after eight years after 9-11 we’re still doing the same thing and it’s wrong.”

Titus stopped short of calling for Napolitano’s resignation as Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and other Republicans have done.

Napolitano was roundly criticized after saying “the system worked” during a Dec. 27 interview on CNN about the incident.

Officials believe a Nigerian man carried explosives sewn into his underwear on the Detroit-bound flight. The Homeland Security Secretary quickly regrouped and said the following day that the system, in fact, did not work as it should.

Titus wants to see more targeted screening of passengers boarding planes.

“I think we’re wasting time and resources checking every little grandmother that goes through,” Titus said during a Tuesday talk with the Sun in Nevada. “I think you need to be more strategic about it like they do in Israel: Tougher profiling. I don’t mean demographic profiling. It doesn’t matter what you look like, but rather behavioral profiling – that notion of buying a one-way ticket and no luggage.”

The Homeland Security Committee has had a busy season, and recently investigated the security breach by White House party crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi, an incident Titus called at the time "a new level of audacity".

Titus set the bar high for the upcoming hearing.

“We’ll expect more information now that they’ve finished their study,” she said. “I would expect a full briefing when we come back.”