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Former National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden said on Fox News Sunday that the administration's decision to close embassies in the Middle East because of a potential Al Qaeda terrorist attack may be a brilliant strategical move. The move could be designed to show the terrorist group that the U.S. is hot on their trial and that it may, potentially, scramble their plans. "The announcement itself may also be designed to interrupt Al Qaeda planning," Hayden said, "to put them off stride, to put them on the back foot, to let them know that we’re on at least to a portion of this plot line."
The President's decision was also earning praise from some of his loudest critics. Most notably, that blonde-haired Benghazi hunter from South Carolina. "We’ve learned from Benghazi, thank God, and the administration’s doing this right," Sen. Lindsay Graham said on CNN's State of the Union. "Shutting down of embassies makes sense." Graham credited the Benghazi attacks for making terrorists think they have some kind of upper hand over the U.S. "They attacked our consulate, they killed an Ambassador and nobody’s paid a price. After Benghazi, these Al Qaeda types are really on steroids, thinking we’re weaker and they’re stronger," he said. But the Republican also cautioned that we can't let some terrorist posturing scare the U.S. out of the Middle East forever. "This is an effort to terrorize us, to drive us out of the Mid East. And if we take the bait and try to come home and create a fortress America, we'll have another 9/11," he said. "So we have to show resolve, but we have to be smart." Graham said his planned trip to Egypt with Sen. John McCain is still on the schedule, though he wasn't certain when his flight leaves. Graham was also quick to credit the administration's knowledge of the attack to the National Security Agency's spying practices. "The NSA program is proving it’s worth yet again," he said. He also argued this should justify the NSA's programs to the lawmakers who have called for changes since Edward Snowden revealed the extent of the NSA's data collection. "To members of the Congress who want to reform the NSA program, great. But if you want to gut it, you make us much less safe and you’re putting our nation at risk," Graham said. "We need to have policies in place that can deal with the threats that exist and they are real and they are growing."