The US revamped its terror watchlists on Monday as US President Barack Obama readied for talks with his intelligence and national security chiefs on a foiled attack on a US-bound jet.
Tougher screening procedures for all US-bound air travelers also swung into effect at airports around the world, prompting complaints from some countries that they were unfair.
Obama, who has denounced “systemic” intelligence failures in the Christmas Day bombing attempt, was scheduled to meet US intelligence chiefs yesterday on findings of two reviews into a Nigerian man’s attempt to bring down the jetliner.
An administration official said the president would unveil an “initial series of reforms” following the meeting.
The talks in the secure White House Situation Room will focus on ongoing reviews of the botched attack on a Northwest flight as it approached Detroit, as well as boosted security measures and improved intelligence-sharing for US national security and counterterrorism operations.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said “safety and security measures are moving forward even as the review goes on” to plug security gaps.
“There’s already been a rescrubbing of all the different lists,” he told reporters, referring to the US government’s broader watchlists of names of persons with suspected terrorist ties as well as the narrower no-fly list of those barred from boarding a US-bound flight.
“Probably thousands upon thousands upon thousands of names were scrubbed and probably dozens were moved to different lists,” he said.
Obama has directly linked the al-Qaeda network, responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, to the botched bid to blow up the Northwest jet with 290 people on board.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is alleged to have tried to detonate explosives sewn in his underwear as the plane was approaching to land, but was overpowered by passengers on the flight from Amsterdam.
The administration ordered tight new security measures for US-bound passengers, including random patdowns and baggage checks.
Travelers flying from or via 14 countries including Cuba, Iran, Nigeria and Yemen will have to undergo mandatory enhanced screening before boarding their US-bound flights under the new rules.
The draconian measures drew protests from some of the countries singled out.
“It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behavior of one person,” Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili said.
The Cuban Communist Party-backed daily Granma blasted the tightened measures as “anti-terrorist paranoia.”
A prominent US Muslim rights group criticized the move as “ethnic profiling” that “disproportionately” targets Muslims, including US citizens visiting family and friends in countries on the lists or performing a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
“While singling out travelers based on religion and national origin may make some people feel safer, it only serves to alienate and stigmatize Muslims and does nothing to improve airline security,” Council on American-Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad said.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Yemen reopened yesterday after a two-day closure, saying successful Yemeni counterterrorism operations have addressed the threat that prompted the measure.
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