US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of how US intelligence organizations keep the skies safe — or don’t, as demonstrated by a failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam.
Obama has not yet tapped someone to head the multi-agency probe, but White House officials acknowledge the recent incident involving a 23-year-old Nigerian with alleged ties to terrorists has made clear there are plenty of failed areas to examine.
The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was on one advisory list, but never caught the attention of US counter-terrorist screeners despite his father’s warnings to US embassy officials in Nigeria last month.
“The gathering of information, as it relates to the watch lists, has begun,” said Denis McDonough, the chief of staff to the National Security Council. “We began to gather that data, and we’ll continue to gather more.”
But no one is yet running the investigation, said McDonough, one of the president’s top advisers, who spoke to reporters traveling with Obama in Hawaii.
The separate Obama-ordered review of security procedures facing the millions of airline travelers each year is under way under the authority of the Homeland Security Department.
That probe, officials said, centers on how Abdulmutallab was able to get aboard a US-bound plane with materials that might have brought down the plane during its final hour in the air.
Calling Abdulmutallab’s action an “attempted act of terrorism,” Obama vowed on Monday to “do everything that we can to keep America safe.”
“The United States will more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us,” he said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack as retaliation for a US operation against the group in Yemen. A statement posted on the Internet by the group said Abdulmutallab coordinated with members of the group and used explosives manufactured by al-Qaeda members.
McDonough said the US had not authenticated the posting.
“We have no independent verification of that claim, but obviously the president has made very clear — now, over the course of several months — his concern about al-Qaeda affiliates, the rise of global extremist organizations and al-Qaeda affiliates in other countries,” McDonough said.
Also See: Yemen confirms alleged hijacker just left country
Also See: Body scanners revisited after failed plane attack
Also See: Why air attacks are a top priority for terror groups
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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