WASHINGTON — So, this is your Homeland Security Department working.
A Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boards a flight in Amsterdam bound for the United States, despite, according to one passenger, having no passport.
Abdulmutallab, a Muslim, boards the plane despite having been reported to the US Embassy by his own father a few months ago.
The young man may be plotting an attack against the US, the father had implored.
He gets on the flight despite having raised the suspicion of US intelligence officials.
When he takes his seat — after passing through every layer of security — Abdulmutallab is still wearing a bomb made with highly explosive powder.
And 20 minutes from landing, just a few thousand feet above US soil, Abdulmutallab ignites his bomb and very nearly pulls off the first terror bombing attack inside the US since 9/11.
In the aftermath yesterday, Big Sis — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano — informs us that the system worked.
It worked?
If by working, Napolitano means she has extended the government’s policy of porous borders to the skies, she is certainly correct.
If by working, she means that someone named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was spared the indignity of a body search, then she has hit a home run.
If by working, she means that quick-thinking passengers once again sprang into action and bravely carried out the duties that she utterly failed to do, then, yeah, everything is working.
Adding insult to this very scary injury is to think of the thousands of honest Americans who boarded airplanes during the holidays and endured so much more intrusive security than Abdulmutallab.
Sure as the sun rose, grandmothers were groped. Mothers were jerked aside and forced to take a swig of their baby’s milk to ensure neither they nor their infant had terroristic motives in flying from Akron to Chicago.
But a sketchy Muslim from Nigeria who has been reported dangerous? Welcome aboard! And welcome to a country where only your dignity will be protected at all costs.