In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder said he alone made the decision to charge Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in federal civilian court instead of trying him as a terrorist before a military tribunal. Holder said he did so “with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government.” That statement flatly contradicts the sworn statement of retired Adm. Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, who told a Senate committee last week that he “was not consulted” in the matter. Blair has since claimed his sworn statement was “misconstrued,” but that seems unlikely with such a simple declarative statement. Either Blair was or was not consulted. Putting Holder and Blair under oath before the same panel simultaneously would perhaps produce some interesting rhetorical parsing.

The more important issue, however, is the attorney general’s dissimulation on an issue of critical importance to the United States government’s ability to protect the American people and ultimately win the war on terrorism. In his letter, Holder argued that “the decision to address Mr. Abdulmutallab’s actions through our criminal justice system has not, and will not, compromise our ability to obtain information needed to detect and prevent future attacks.”