"There was no smoking gun," Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday. "There was no piece of intelligence that said this guy is a terrorist and is going to get on a plane. No, none whatsoever," he said.
"It's not like 9/11," Brennan said, adding that the "system didn't work as it should have" due to "lapses" and "human error."
Brennan blitzed the Sunday morning talk shows, appearing on ABC, CNN, FOX and NBC.
The Hill reports the former head of the 9/11 Commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, called Brennan's remarks "a bit defensive, and that's probably understandable given the circumstances."
Kean said the attempted bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, "did us a favor" by bringing terrorism back to the forefront.
This video is from Fox News Sunday, broadcast Jan. 3, 2010.
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