Feinstein, Brennan Back NCTC Chief

Today has been filled with news of National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter taking a vacation during the aftermath of the failed attack on Northwest Flight 253. But not only did President Obama say he couldn’t single any one individual out for failure, his counterterrorism chief, John Brennan, actually stepped in front of the media firing squad, saying that he explicitly signed off on Leiter taking a (working) vacation. (Brennan, for good measure, said he told Obama that he failed on Christmas.)

If that wasn’t enough to secure Leiter’s job, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, just put out the following statement:

Michael Leiter has my full confidence as head of the National Counterterrorism Center. He briefed me on the attack and what was known on Christmas Day, and he has been involved in the Administration’s immediate response and ongoing review. As a result of the briefing that he gave me, I believe the response to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 was well in hand. I believe him to be one of the bright lights in the American intelligence community.