Heck of A Job, Mikey

The bureaucrat most responsible for the defense of America against a jihad bomb doesn't think much of the terrorist nuke threat:

The short answer is the intent is there. Its probability, particularly in the short term, is lower than conventional weapons," he said at Oxford's famed debating society.

Chertoff's remarks followed a series of anonymous postings on al-Qaida-affliated Web sites, including a 39-minute video, calling on militants to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

The Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant Web traffic, said the video presents the U.S. as vulnerable and suggests that militants could use such weapons as a deterrent to any nuclear attack against an Islamic country.

Although none of the postings is known to be authentic, taken together they raise questions about whether jihadists have such capabilities and whether they can launch some kind of attack.

But Chertoff downplayed the idea.

"In the immediate or near term, the focus is on conventional weapons, which can still be quite damaging. Something on the scale of 9/11 or the attacks on your transportation system. We have to look at the whole spectrum," he said.

The video is just part of a propaganda campaign to frighten the West, SITE director Rita Katz said.

"It's just an indication of the strong desire that jihadists have for the use of such a weapon, but I don't see a reason to worry about a WMD attack in the U.S. based on this chatter," she said.

This would be some comfort if the terrorist hadn't broadcast their desire to destroy the World Trade Center some 8 years before they succeeded in doing so.

Chertoff is an embarrassment.