Listening is good, and more people should spend their listening time wisely.  By wisely, I mean both discerningly and critically listen to what is being said.  Witness yesterday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearings and the testimony of the heads of the major U.S. intelligence agencies.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair answered the question of future terrorist attacks directly and succinctly. When asked by committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California, of the likelihood of another attempted terror attack on the United States within the next three to six months, Blair said an attempt was a certainty.  The directors of the CIA and FBI, and others, all concurred.

Senator Feinstein’s question was very clear and quite specific, and she used the word “attempted” when referring to a terror attack on U.S. soil.  Mr. Blair’s answer, and the concurrence of his other national intelligence agency directors, was to the question asked.

This morning, and following the Senate Committee hearings, two Boston television station early morning news shows were reporting these top intelligence officials had testified that a terror attack within the next six months is “certain.”  If I had not seen the hearing myself, if I had not heard Feinstein’s question or Blair’s answer, or the answers of CIA Director Leon Panetta or FBI Director Robert Mueller, I would have been horrified.

Too often our news is like that game of telling a story by whisper:  the first person whispers something into the ear of another, who in turn passes it on to the person next to him, and it circles around the room.  The last to hear the whispered story then stands before all and reports what he was told, and they all laugh at how the story morphed and changed in the retelling.

Such seems to have been the case with the Senate hearing, and those news departments should be ashamed.  But it also makes one wonder about the accuracy of any news we read or hear anywhere these days.  I’m just an average guy, reading three or four newspapers each day, following the news on both network and cable television, and becoming more disillusioned with it all, frankly.

Had I not seen the hearing myself, had I not listened to what Blair et als actually said, I would not know the full story, or the inaccuracy of the news reports. I suppose this means I need to do that all the time, listen to every speech given, watch every hearing televised, to know for myself what has occurred.

This is where the listening comes in – - and our responsibility to follow events, discern truths, think critically about what we hear, and form our own opinions, reach our own conclusions.  We shouldn’t need the Becks or Hannitys or Matthews or Limbaughs of the airwaves to tell us what things mean, to instruct us on how to think.  And we certainly don’t need irresponsible journalists to leave out an important word  – “attempted” – from their reporting.

As to the validity and credibility of Blair’s assessment, I have no doubt.  No statistics are released, no specific incidences are discussed, of successful interventions by U.S. intelligence and military that thwart attempted attacks.  To do so would shine a light on intelligence-gathering efforts and personnel, and put both American lives and and those of friendly nationals in other countries at risk.

However, it is quite likely that many such successes have occurred, and attacks have been slowed or prevented as a consequence.  Blair reported to the committee in his written testimony that it would take the capture or deaths of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri – - al Qaeda’s top two leaders – - to bring about the possibility of ending the group’s intent to attack the United States.

The mere thought of an attempted terror attack, and its certainty within the next six months, is scary enough.  Those who purport to tell the news should tell it all, and do so accurately.

I’m not a journalist.  I’m not reporting.  Don’t take my word for any of this.  Find the film of the Senate hearing, listen to Senator Feinstein’s question and listen to Director Blair’s answer.  Think about it and form your own opinion.  Your American citizenship requires you to do so, the price we pay for where we live.