White House answers some questions on video chat

[February 04, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House wanted to make sure the public asked their questions, too -- at least the online public.

In its latest attempt to appear connected and technologically savvy, the White House conducted a video chat on Thursday to answer questions about the failure to head off the Christmas Day airliner bomb plot.

After President Barack Obama and his aides spoke before reporters for nearly an hour, Denis McDonough, National Security Council chief of staff, answered questions in an online video chat for about 20 minutes.

McDonough appeared on a video streamed through the White House blog, which linked to a Facebook page where online viewers could submit questions.

As with any online chat, some questions went unanswered, including irrelevant and snarky ones. But some relevant questions were just ignored, including whether officials will begin profiling people for better security.

The first question McDonough answered: What's the difference between the classified security report and the version released to the public?

McDonough said the conclusions and findings are the same, but what's not in the declassified report are sources and methods the intelligence community uses to collect information. He said the U.S. doesn't want to compromise intelligence gathering.

McDonough reiterated mostly what Obama and his aides had said before the chat -- in the controlled confines at the White House -- about how the U.S. is strengthening its counterterrorism measures.

But on the Internet, anything can be said. At one point, after McDonough began coughing and briefly left his chair to drink water, one participant typed, "Is he choking on his own words?"

[Associated Press; By CHRISTINE SIMMONS]

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