WILL THIS HEAD ROLL? – AT 9:48 A.M. ET:  This is one of those "hard to believe" stories, but it's apparently true.  We were alerted to it by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit.  From the New York Daily News:

WASHINGTON - The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.

Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency's "bat cave" nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.

"People have been grumbling that he didn't let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation," said one of the sources.

The NCTC, the post-9/11 clearinghouse for intelligence to detect terror plots against the U.S., is under intense scrutiny for failing to "connect the dots" on Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Leiter's spokesman declined to say when the terror-center chief returned to Washington and fully retook the helm of his analysis agency, which is near CIA headquarters just outside the nation's capital.

COMMENT:  Behavior like that sets him up for being the ideal sacrificial lamb.  Also, Leiter doesn't seem to be a member of any group that will scream if he's fired.  This head is meant for rolling.

January 7, 2009