This Week's 5 Burning Questions

(Jan. 4) -- Take a news break while ringing in the new year over the weekend? Sphere's guide to what you missed -- and a look at the questions plugged-in people will be pondering this week:

Is the U.S. Running Scared?

That's the question that will get serious debate as the government shutters the U.S. embassy in Yemen amid threats of a terrorist attack. The close call on Christmas clearly jolted the intelligence and national security establishment in Washington, and the Obama administration reacted with a series of moves aimed at shoring up the cracks in the system.

The latest was a decision announced Sunday by the Transportation Security Administration to require "full-body pat-downs" and other intense airport screening for citizens of 14 countries entering the United States, including nations designated as state sponsors of terrorism or "countries of interest," such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Nigeria. Obama administration officials have stressed that they remain on the offensive, but the picture emerging is of a resurgent al-Qaida. "Al-Qaida is determined to carry out attacks and be successful," the president's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "We keep thwarting their attacks, but they keep pressing."

Is Janet Napolitano's Job Safe?

It seems so. The secretary of homeland security came under heavy fire last week over her assertion that "the system worked" during the Christmas terrorism attempt. President Barack Obama flatly contradicted her statement, and some Republicans used the gaffe to call for her resignation. But the firestorm appeared to flame out Sunday, as Napolitano received robust endorsements from her Republican predecessor, Michael Chertoff, and the famously unpredictable chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who has shown no qualms about making life difficult for the Obama administration.

"She's got a good skill set, she's got great experience, her heart's in the right place, and I heartily endorse her," Chertoff said on NBC's "Meet the Press." And Brennan was clearly working off a script as he went out of his way to defend Napolitano on multiple Sunday shows -- on "Meet the Press," he endorsed the secretary even before moderator David Gregory asked about her by name. Still, Obama has said pointedly that administration officials would be "held accountable" for the security breach, and if new information points to even bigger missed warnings, Napolitano will be back in the cross-hairs.

Will the Unemployment Rate Return to Single Digits?

The jobless rate at the end of November settled at exactly 10 percent, and the number of jobs lost for the month, 11,000, slowed to a trickle. On Friday, we find out where the unemployment rate stood at the end of 2009. A rate in the single digits would provide at least a symbolic boost to Obama, offering support for his administration's economic policy, and there are signs that's where the number could land: Some economists predict that the market actually gained jobs in December. Yet even if the economy did add jobs, experts polled by Bloomberg News warn that the unemployment rate could still tick up, to 10.1 percent or more. That's because workers who had left the job hunt out of frustration may return with their résumés, and at a faster pace than employers are hiring.

Will Health Care Reform Get Bogged Down (Again)?

The partisan bickering over the Christmas terror plot has drowned out the partisan bickering over health care -- at least for the moment. That might be good news for Democrats and the Obama administration after a year in which the push for health insurance reform suffered the most when the issue was the center of attention; the softer focus could allow crucial differences between the House and Senate bills to be worked out behind the scenes. On the other hand, Congress is notoriously lousy at multitasking, and the increasing scrutiny from lawmakers on national security, including multiple hearings this month, could delay a final deal on health care. To prevent another slow-down, Democrats may forgo a formal conference committee to merge the two bills and instead use informal negotiations that would cut out Republicans trying to block the bill, according to a report in the New Republic.

How Will Bernanke's Defense Sit With Congress?

The Federal Reserve chairman mounted an unusually vigorous defense of the central bank's policies on Sunday, arguing that a failure of regulation -- and not low interest rates set by the Fed -- led to the housing market collapse that rippled through the economy in 2008. The significance of Bernanke's speech to the American Economic Association in Atlanta is that it came as the Senate prepares to decide whether to confirm him for a second term as Fed chief.

The Senate is widely expected to give him the nod before his current term expires at the end of this month, but he has faced criticism from both the left and the right over his stewardship of the bank in the lead-up to the economic crisis. His statements could also affect the push for financial regulatory reform: The Obama administration wants the Fed to have more authority to wind down troubled banks whose failure could damage the economy, but some lawmakers are balking at that and other proposals, and Congress has yet to pass the legislation.