US President Barack Obama said US intelligence agencies missed “red flags” that would have put a Nigerian man on a no-fly list before Christmas Day, when he is accused of trying to blow up an airliner.
The government failed to heed warnings that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could pose a terrorist threat even after his father came to US authorities with his concerns, the president said yesterday.
“The warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America,” Obama said at a US military base near the home in Hawaii where he is vacationing with his family.
Obama said he expects preliminary results tomorrow from investigations he ordered into the “systemic failure” in aviation security and terrorist intelligence gathering. Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is charged with smuggling explosives onto a Northwest Airlines jet and trying to blow up the plane as it prepared to land in Detroit. The full investigation could take weeks.
Obama decided to speak yesterday after an intelligence briefing where he was told the government had information on terrorist planning and potential attacks that if taken together might have pointed to the incident last Friday, an official said on condition of anonymity.
The CIA learned about Abdulmutallab last month, when his father went to the US embassy in Nigeria to seek help in finding him, agency spokesman George Little said in an e-mail. The agency worked to ensure he was in the government terrorist database “including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen,” Little said.
Without mentioning the CIA, Obama said: “Weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”
The New York Times quoted two unidentified officials as saying the US had information from Yemen that leaders of an al-Qaeda branch were talking about a Nigerian being prepared for an attack.
“It’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have,” Obama said.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands said it would start using full-body scanners in the wake of the failed attack. The preparation of the attempt was “fairly professional,” while the execution was “amateurish,” Dutch Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst wrote in a letter to parliament yesterday, citing a government investigation.
“It will take three weeks to modify the scanners to ensure passengers’ privacy,” ter Horst said at a press conference in The Hague.
The Netherlands plans to use millimeter-wave body scans, which scan the outline of a person’s body, on all flights to the US to reduce terrorist threats, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported, citing an interview with Justice.
Separately, US and Yemeni officials were looking at fresh targets for a possible retaliation strike in Yemen, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing two unidentified US officials.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary