Tomorrow morning my wife and I get on a plane to fly back to Denver after spending Christmas with our daughter and friends. Needless to say I already dread the check-in, flight and landing. Knees are jerking everywhere and once again, we're fighting the last battle instead of the next battle.

The Associated Press is reporting:

"The Justice Department has charged the alleged Christmas Day terrorist with attempting to destroy an airplane.

"The Justice Department says 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had a device containing a high explosive attached to his body. The government says that as the flight neared Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Friday, Abdulmutallab set off the device, but it sparked a fire instead of an explosion.

"According to an affidavit filed in federal court in Detroit, a preliminary analysis of the device shows that it contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol.

"The government alleges that Abdulmutallab told passengers that his stomach was upset, then pulled a blanket over himself. Passengers then heard popping noises."

Sometimes I wonder if these idiots really want to blow up airplanes or if they simply want to terrorize us by causing knee jerk reactions by the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration in response to the use of PETN on Delta Flight 253. Fifteen minutes ago I am seeing reports from the Associated Press that confirm knees are jerking everywhere, even the kid behind me pushing on the back of my airline seat will have a hard time understanding the logic of this:

"Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing. The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day.

"Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.

"The TSA declined to confirm the new restrictions.

"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement Saturday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures "are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere." A transportation security official speaking on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly said passengers traveling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands."

OK, kids. Sit down and shut up. We have an hour before landing and if anyone gets up you will be met by a federal agent at the door after landing. Somebody please explain to me how that prevents an act of terrorism? What if instead of making everyone sit with an empty lap we actually used technology to detect explosives on airlines instead? How about screening checked bags for explosives? How about instead of staying seated we have bomb-sniffing dogs randomly check bags and individuals for explosives as they come through security?

No, much like gun control, we instead elect to punish everyone instead of stopping the terrorist. More control, more TSA workers (i.e. union members), more delays, more individual liberty lost, all while fighting against an incident that citizens, not TSA, stopped.

I have always maintained that the smartest thing we did post-9/11 was secure cockpit doors. Now that we know the endgame, who is going to stand by and watch as some yahoo charges the cockpit door or galley? No one, as prove on Flight 253. Airline passengers stopped this incident. No one from TSA. No one from DHS. No one from the FBI. Obama himself didn't stop it. Average American citizens stopped it.

Insofar as PETN explosive is concerned, the initial reports are, as usually, sketchy. If PETN was used in such a manner that it could have blown up Flight 253 then the solution is, once again, deploying the capability to detect explosives, not making passengers stay seated.

Instead we will have a knee jerk reaction, proclaim we are taking "enhanced" security measures, and doing nothing to stop the explosion of a bomb on an airplane.

Dr. Hasan has now been charged with 13 counts of murder which I am certain will be the basis for this White House and its personnel at the Pentagon to deny Purple Hearts to those who were killed in the terrorist attack at Fort Hood. But, awarding Purple Hearts to these men and women will be a tacit admission by this Administration that Hasan's murderous rampage was a terrorist attack by a radical Muslim. So, I doubt any Purple Hearts will be awarded.

The President's disdain for these soldiers, while appearing to care by walking through Arlington National Cemetery and appearing at Dover Air Force Base (where only one - 1 - family out of eighteen gave him permission) being photographed during a dignified transfer of a killed soldier, is astonishing. Coupled with the decision to try some of the 9/11 conspirators in a New York federal district court just adds insult to injury.

Even with his decision to play the word game with his decision to move the trials to criminal court in New York ("This is a prosecutorial decision as well as a national security decision" he said in announcing the decision to move the trials out of Guantanamo) he is failing to act Presidential. This decision was either made with the full knowledge of the White House or the President is completely out of the loop with major decisions being made by his Cabinet and appointees.

Having been one of those appointees, I hardly doubt he is out of the loop.

So where do we stand on the Purple Heart issue?

Remember, those killed and wounded at the Pentagon were awarded Purple Hearts. Let's see what happens at Fort Hood.

Mr. President, award the hearts, don't play politics with this one.

Last Thursday while we were still engulfed in the attack at Fort Hood, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation removing the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security, returning it to independent, Cabinet-level status if approved. H.R. 1174. Ironic that a few days after a terrorist attack occurs on U.S. soil a House committee takes action which would enhance the Nation’s ability to respond to and recover from a disaster, whether natural or manmade.

Most telling in the announcement of the passage of this bill was Congressman John Mica’s statement that “The Department [of Homeland Security] has bled FEMA dry of resources, personnel and authority to manage a large disaster. Elevating FEMA as an independent agency will ensure a clear and direct chain of command from the president.” The wisdom of that statement is significant. Congressman Mica and the House Transportation Committee members (Democrat & Republican) acknowledge the inherent ways of Washington by making this bold move.

Senator Lieberman continues to espouse the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act as solving all of FEMA’s problems. Nothing could be further from the truth nor more disingenuous as to how Washington works. The post-Katrina act made superficial changes to FEMA’s structure and exacerbated the matrix approach to management that hinders DHS and FEMA from operating effectively.

The matrix approach taken by Congress in the post-Katrina reform act had the unintended consequence of further embedding the problems that stymied me during the response to Hurricane Katrina. The best example of the matrixed organization is Abbot & Costello’s “Who’s on First.” Play it in your mind and you get the gist of the arguments during Hurricane Katrina.

In a matrixed-structured or Abbot & Costello organization under the post-Katrina act, the FEMA Administrator is subservient to the DHS Secretary throughout the year. The FEMA Administrator must work through the huge bureaucracy of DHS to get budget approval, authorization for personnel, funding for projects, and even the attention of the Secretary. The FEMA Administrator during “normal” times (i.e. other than during a disaster) must answer to and be accountable to the DHS Secretary, not the President.

To give you some perspective, the FEMA Administrator and his approximately 2,500 employees must fight for resources, funding, personnel and attention in an organization in which his operation accounts for 0.01% of the Department’s personnel. FEMA has 2500 employees (give or take) versus 200,000 (give or take) in DHS. The FEMA Administrator’s CFO, for example, is accountable to both the FEMA Administrator and the DHS CFO and the DHS Undersecretary for Management. That is a matrixed organization in a nutshell. Multiple bosses, conflicting priorities, divided loyalties.

In Washington wisdom, though, that matrixed structure is to be ignored during times of crisis or disaster. Yes, the boss to whom you’ve groveled and cajoled for funding and resources suddenly is answerable to you when a disaster strikes because now you report directly to the President of the United States. Suddenly, a cabinet member must take direction from you while you step in and report directly to the Commander in Chief. Most egos in Washington can’t handle that kind of whiplash. I know those that stood between me and President Bush during Hurricane Katrina couldn’t take that whiplash.

Susan Collins is just naïve when she says removing FEMA from Homeland Security would “ignore the input of first-responders and unravel all the impressive gains made in recent months since we passed our FEMA reform law.” No one wants to hear that their baby is ugly, but in this case, Senator Collins, your baby is ugly, and has done nothing to correct the systemic problems in FEMA. Only be removing the organization from the DHS behemoth and giving it a direct line to the President, which worked amazingly well from 1979 until 2005, will we have FEMA back to its heyday.

No one in Washington will admit its baby is ugly because in Washington, you can never admit a mistake, or take a step that might be seen as a reversal. In this case, the House Transportation Committee has the audacity of hindsight and is moving forward. Let’s hope Washington for once will correct its mistake and just do what’s right.