A lot is expected from a nation that is the world’s last superpower, the biggest economy in human history, and the highest concentration of knowledge on the planet. Letting agents and organizations gamble with and against one another for control of the world’s finances is one thing (it’s the freest of the free-markets for pete’s sake), but the Central Intelligence Agency failing to circulate a document to stop a suspected terrorist is another.

Forget the fact that the Netherlands allowed Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to board a plane to Detroit (Europeans have a historical penchant to rely on the US for global security anyway). But the American intelligence network allowing him to reach Detroit is completely preposterous.

(We didn’t even consider the problems of Wall Street here. Why? Because this is the most prosperous, most productive, most peaceful recession in the history of the world, that’s why).

Anyway, the underwear bomber is one of those “oops” moments, where somewhere, somehow a pencil pusher (or a keyboard kestrel) is scratching his or head. It’s one of the toughest jobs in the world, but just how hard is it to swallow your pride, even if entire government agencies laugh at you and accuse you of overreacting, by circulating a memo about a suspected terrorist? To put it bluntly, who’s waiting for another plane to explode with hundreds of passengers on board before change happens?

American embassy personnel in Nigeria did their job by sending it to Langley, Virginia. But five weeks sitting on a memo tray in American soil is an affront to the intellect. Just where the CIA, and their accumulation of information, has a problem with making decisions is anybody’s guess.

Along with this, the National Counterterrorism Center admitted being swamped by hundreds of daily reports about national security threats. But seriously, a graduate school researcher can still look at these documents and, at least, recommend a revocation of a visa or a more serious look into the terrorist watch list.

How about filling the vacant position of Program Director for the Information Sharing Environment of the Department of Homeland Security? He helps coordinate all the government agencies, right? Well, the world has been waiting since July 2009.

The US government was accused of having a “lack of imagination” after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It’s really dumb when any terrorist with the imagination and determination, not to mention the nerve to back it up, is more dangerous than all the king’s horses and all the king’s men.

Ever heard of a certain web slinger’s correlation between great power and responsibility?