Director of National Intelligence Learns of U.K. Plot … from Diane Sawyer

By Chris Ariens on December 22, 2010 11:23 AM

ABC’s Diane Sawyer sat down with three of the President’s top national security officials Monday afternoon, the same day 12 people in three British cities were arrested in a bomb plot.

One problem, the Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, (far left) who briefs the president everyday on the nation’s security, didn’t know about the arrests, which had been reported 8 hours earlier on the network morning shows. In her interview, which aired last on “World News”, Sawyer asks:

“First of all, London. How serious is it? Any implication that it was coming here?”

Clapper hesitated, before his colleague, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said, “You meant the arrests of the 12 individuals by the British early this morning. This is something that the British told us about early this morning when it was taking place.”

Later in the interview, Sawyer said to Clapper, “I was a little surprised you didn’t know about London.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t,” he said.

This morning the Obama administration acknowledged that Clapper had not been briefed about the arrests at the time of the interview.

See the video from the “World News” story after the jump…