Obama: We Knew Enough to Stop Terror Attack
Posted by Brian Montopoli
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Updated 5:31 p.m. Eastern Time
President Obama said this afternoon that government officials "had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt" the Christmas Day terror plot but "failed to connect [the] dots" that would have allowed them to do so.
"This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," he said.
Following a 90-minute meeting with officials investigating how a Nigerian national with possible al Qaeda links was able to board a Detroit-bound airliner with an explosive device, Mr. Obama said "it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged."
Mr. Obama said the intelligence community knew al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula wanted to strike the United States and that they were working with the individual who turned out to be the Christmas Day bomber.
Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
He called the performance by the intelligence community "not acceptable."
"I will not tolerate it," said the president.
"When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way," said the president. "And it is my responsibility to find out why, and to correct that failure so that we can prevent such attacks in the future."
Mr. Obama also discussed steps already taken to improve security, including updating terror watch list system, adding more air marshals, and giving full-body searches to U.S.-bound travelers from certain countries.
He said that "while our review has found that our watch-listing system is not broken, the failure to add Abdulmutallab to the no-fly list shows that this system needs to be strengthened."
The president had already blamed "systematic failures" for allowing 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the airliner with the explosive device, which failed to fully detonate.
Abdulmutallab was on a federal list of more than 500,000 suspected terrorists, but he was not on no-fly or additional screening watch list despite numerous red flags having been raised about him.
Following the president's comments, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr said "screening is going to be more invasive, it's going to be more expensive, and travelers should get used to the idea that the system will be slower."
Christmas Day Attack a Wake-Up Call for Obama
"I will not tolerate it," said the president.
"When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way," said the president. "And it is my responsibility to find out why, and to correct that failure so that we can prevent such attacks in the future."
Mr. Obama also discussed steps already taken to improve security, including updating terror watch list system, adding more air marshals, and giving full-body searches to U.S.-bound travelers from certain countries.
He said that "while our review has found that our watch-listing system is not broken, the failure to add Abdulmutallab to the no-fly list shows that this system needs to be strengthened."
The president had already blamed "systematic failures" for allowing 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the airliner with the explosive device, which failed to fully detonate.
Abdulmutallab was on a federal list of more than 500,000 suspected terrorists, but he was not on no-fly or additional screening watch list despite numerous red flags having been raised about him.
Following the president's comments, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr said "screening is going to be more invasive, it's going to be more expensive, and travelers should get used to the idea that the system will be slower."
Christmas Day Attack a Wake-Up Call for Obama
(Pete Souza)
At the meeting preceding the comments, Mr. Obama met with 20 top officials, including director of national intelligence Dennis Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
"This was a screw up that could have been disastrous," he said at the meeting, according to a senior administration official. "We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals not because the system worked and that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency for finger pointing, I will not tolerate it."
Officials are engaged in separate reviews of passenger screening procedures and the use of terror watch lists. The president said a preliminary report from counterterrorism and homeland security adviser John Brennan on the watch lists will be made public in the next few days.
The review process, the president said in his comments Tuesday, "continues to reveal more about the human and systemic failures that almost cost nearly 300 lives." The White House said that leaders from various agencies and departments took responsibility for failures at the meeting.
Napolitano, whose comment that "the system worked" not long after the bombing attempt drew widespread criticism, briefed the president Tuesday on screening procedures. The White House has indicated that it believes the larger problem to be intelligence gathering, not screening.
At his White House briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to comment on whether anyone would be fired over the situation. He said Blair, Panetta and Napolitano all have the backing of the White House.
The White House also announced Tuesday that the U.S. no longer send Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, at last in the short run. Abdulmutallab had ties to terrorists in that country.
Mr. Obama acknowledged that decision but said the administration was still determined to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, which he called "a tremendous recruiting tool for al Qaeda." About half of the remaining detainees at the facility are from Yemen, and the Department of Justice transferred six Yemeni detainees to the country's government last month.
In his comments, the president said that while he accepts "that intelligence by its nature is imperfect," officials must do better with American lives on the line.
"Time and again we've learned that quickly piecing together information and taking swift action is critical to staying one step ahead of a nimble adversary," he said. "So we have to do better, and we will do better, and we have to do it quickly."
"This was a screw up that could have been disastrous," he said at the meeting, according to a senior administration official. "We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals not because the system worked and that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency for finger pointing, I will not tolerate it."
Officials are engaged in separate reviews of passenger screening procedures and the use of terror watch lists. The president said a preliminary report from counterterrorism and homeland security adviser John Brennan on the watch lists will be made public in the next few days.
The review process, the president said in his comments Tuesday, "continues to reveal more about the human and systemic failures that almost cost nearly 300 lives." The White House said that leaders from various agencies and departments took responsibility for failures at the meeting.
Napolitano, whose comment that "the system worked" not long after the bombing attempt drew widespread criticism, briefed the president Tuesday on screening procedures. The White House has indicated that it believes the larger problem to be intelligence gathering, not screening.
At his White House briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to comment on whether anyone would be fired over the situation. He said Blair, Panetta and Napolitano all have the backing of the White House.
The White House also announced Tuesday that the U.S. no longer send Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, at last in the short run. Abdulmutallab had ties to terrorists in that country.
Mr. Obama acknowledged that decision but said the administration was still determined to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, which he called "a tremendous recruiting tool for al Qaeda." About half of the remaining detainees at the facility are from Yemen, and the Department of Justice transferred six Yemeni detainees to the country's government last month.
In his comments, the president said that while he accepts "that intelligence by its nature is imperfect," officials must do better with American lives on the line.
"Time and again we've learned that quickly piecing together information and taking swift action is critical to staying one step ahead of a nimble adversary," he said. "So we have to do better, and we will do better, and we have to do it quickly."
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