U.S. learned intelligence on airline bomb suspect while he was en route

[kpete]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Quantcast
U.S. learned intelligence on airline bomb suspect while he was en route
U.S. border enforcement officials came close to stopping the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines jet while the suspect was en route to Detroit on Christmas Day, new data show.


Reporting from Washington - U.S. border security officials learned of intelligence about the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt as he was en route to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials said in new disclosures today. The new information shows that border enforcement officials came close to uncovering the plot despite previous intelligence failures that were criticized by President Obama this week. If the intelligence had been discovered sooner, it could have resulted in the interrogation and search of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before he boarded the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight, senior law enforcement officials said.

"The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection," said a senior law enforcement official who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. "The decision had been made. The . . . database had picked up the State Department concern about this guy, that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen. . . . They could have made a decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane."

Nonetheless, the revelations underscore the complexity of the intelligence and passenger screening systems that are the subject of comprehensive reviews to be revealed by the administration Thursday.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-naw-airline-terror7-2010jan07,0,2084702.story

[Skink]

1. So then maybe the crew was alerted.

[Arctic Dave]

2. His Dad told them he was trouble the month before. This just more of, "how could we have ever known"

[Randall Flagg]

3. Couple this with the CIA bombing suspect

who was a double agent whom was thought to be our best hope into getting into AQ, it is beginning to make US Intelligence seem like a bit of an "oxymoran."

[Scruffy1]

4. I was born in the morning

but not yesterday morning. This whole story stinks to high heaven. No passport, no visa, paid cash
etc. Sounds phony as hell. pick your favorite conspiracy theory.

[boppers]

5. He had a passport, and a visa, and had been here before.

What sources are you following? There's a serious misinformation game going on.

Guess who wants to turn this into a political embarrassment, and guess who would want that, and you'll likely come to some conclusions.

[procopia]

9. What sources are you following?

And how do you know which ones are misinforming?

[boppers]

14. I'm following google, and the State Dept.

Who is lying? The first clue would be ignorance of facts.

[procopia]

17. And those who disagree with you,

those are the ones who are "ignorant" of the facts? And the State Dept. never lies? Amsterdam officials wouldn't lie to conceal an embarrassing incident? Have you seen a video? Most people claiming he had a passport link to a claim in an article quoting "the Dutch." Vague enough for you?

[douglas9]

15. Airline bomber suspect studied in Houston

HOUSTON — The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day over Detroit attended an intensive, Islamic education seminar in Houston last year designed for top student scholars, an organization confirmed Wednesday.

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, vice president for the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston, said 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was living in London in the summer of 2008 when he attended the nonprofit institute's annual “IlmSummit” with about 150 other students.

Basyouni said other participants in the seminar, which was held in Houston during the first two weeks of August 2008, remembered Abdulmutallab as being very quiet and keeping to himself.

“From what we witnessed, he showed no signs of extremism,” Basyouni sai

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/80392267.html

[defendandprotect]

7. Loved Olberman being after this . .. two nights in a row . .. pretty much making clear .. farce...

And it certainly was!

Now, rather than a TV anchor telling us the obvious, we need the Democrats

to be speaking out on it -- and investigating it!!

Maybe we still have a chance to put Cheney in jail!!

[SnakeEyes]

10. Im all for going after Cheney but

Where does he fit into this one?

[defendandprotect]

16. Are you asking if Cheney personally set this latest farce up?

Or are you saying that it was not a farce?

[frylock]

6. please

:pfst:

[applegrove]

8. They should give all State Department, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security officials

the right to look at the no fly list. If they are given intelligence on a suspected terrorist event then they can look at the no fly list (or call someone who will look at the no fly list for them) and see if that person has made it onto the no fly list after a time. If not they should be able to call some Homeland Security Agency and find out why the actionable intelligence was not acted upon. That way all the people (with a gut feeling) up the chain of command would be able to double check gut feelings they have and the information they passed up the chain. There should be a department of homeland security office that allows a second and third go over of such intelligence. Almost like an internal imbeded whitleblower organization for all American officials who deal with intelligence and encourage officials to go rogue on terrorism intel they wonder about.

[t0dd]

11. U.S. learned intelligence on airline attack suspect while he was en route

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Washington - U.S. border security officials learned of the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day jetliner bombing attempt as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials disclosed Wednesday.

The new information shows that border enforcement officials discovered the suspected extremist ties involving the Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in a database despite intelligence failures that have been criticized by President Obama.

"The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection," a senior law enforcement official said. "The decision had been made. The had picked up the State Department concern about this guy -- that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen."

If the intelligence had been detected sooner, it could have resulted in the interrogation and search of Abdulmutallab at the airport in Amsterdam, according to senior law enforcement officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

"They could have made the decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane," the senior law enforcement official said.

Nevertheless, that was not a sure-fire conclusion, due to the complexity of the intelligence and passenger screening systems that are the subject of comprehensive reviews that will be revealed today by the administration.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-airline-terror7-2010jan07,0,7706989.story

[niyad]

12. now why do I think this is a case of CYA? we are just now finding out that they knew about this guy

that they were going to pick him up? yeah, right. nearly two weeks after the fact they are telling us this? come on, guys, surely you can do better than this?

[peacetalksforall]

13. I heard on NPR that the ticket was one way and paid by cash. It was probably

20 years ago that anyone buying a one way ticket was reported to some government center. At one time the concern was Cuban highjackers.

They are spending too much energy spying on us?

Something is not right here.