Fmr. CIA Director: Political Correctness a Shortcoming in Fighting Terror

In the wake of a deadly assault on an Orlando nightclub, which killed at least 49 people over the weekend, many criticize President Barack Obama for not using the words “radical Islam” as the attacker’s motivation.

Former CIA Director Ambassador James Woolsey told FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney the president’s verbiage is a “big shortcoming.”

“You can’t fight successfully against something you won’t accurately describe. It would be as if we tried to fight World War II without saying ‘Nazi,’” Woolsey said.

The shooting took place at a gay nightclub called Pulse in Sunday’s early-morning hours. The killer, identified as Omar Mateen, was “cool and calm” as he killed dozens of people and took more as hostages, later pledging allegiance to ISIS, the Islamic State terror group during a 911 call, officials said.

In a statement following the deadly attack, President Obama condemned the shooting, calling it an “act of terror” and “an act of hate,” but Woolsey said the president won't be able to rally the country or allocate government resources effectively to identify the next attack until he names the threat.

FBI officials spoke to Mateen three times and learned he worked for a security company that did business with the CIA. Woolsey said the attack illustrates the risks associated with subcontracting with companies from the Middle East where documentation is not put together in a “sound way.”

Still, he said it’s not the FBI’s responsibility to stop crime – only investigate why it happened, and figure out how to prevent similar events from happening.

“It’s their job to find a criminal once a crime has been committed. If they can stop the crime from occurring, yes they will. But they’re not principally organized to look into the future and stop someone from doing something even before he has committed a crime or taken action,” he said.

The key, Woolsey said, is fighting political correctness in identifying attackers and would-be attackers.

“We have got to realize we are at war. We have got to go into action like we did in World War II. We’ve got to get the best of America on dealing with something like the dark web, and figure out how to get out in front…we’ve got to get at least that good in terms of dealing with those who may be on the verge of committing crimes of the sort we saw in Orlando,” Woolsey said.