MADELEINE BRAND, host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Madeleine Brand, sitting in for Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
From the amount of debate it inspired, it can be hard to recall that on Christmas Day 2009, nobody was killed on an airliner landing in Detroit. Still, a would-be bomber came close to succeeding, actually got explosives onto a crowded aircraft, and that has led to an intense discussion that we will sample this morning. In a moment, we'll hear about new security measures at airports. We start at the White House, where President Obama met with his national security team. The administration's initial response to this incident was relatively low key - not yesterday.
NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President Obama's message to the agency heads seated around a table in the White House Situation Room yesterday was chilling. This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous, he said. We dodged a bullet, but just barely. Emerging from the meeting 90 minutes later, Mr. Obama had an equally blunt assessment for the American people.
President BARACK OBAMA: When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama says the problem wasn't a failure of intelligence gathering. The U.S. government knew, for example, that the young Nigerian man accused in the bomb attempt - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - had traveled to Yemen, where he fell under the influence of Islamic extremists. Separately, the government had evidence that al-Qaida operatives in Yemen were working with a Nigerian, planning to strike at a U.S. target. But despite those warning signs and the fact that he brought his plane ticket with cash and carried no luggage, no effort was made to stop Abdulmutallab from boarding Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and allegedly trying to blow it up.
Pres. OBAMA: The bottom line is this: The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack, but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots.
HORSLEY: White House aides say there was no finger pointing around the Situation Room table yesterday. Instead, leaders of each agency took responsibility for their own organization's shortcomings. Mr. Obama ordered them to recommend fixes that could be made as soon as this week.
Pres. OBAMA: We have to better, and we will do better. And we have to do it quickly. American lives are on the line.
HORSLEY: Some steps have already been taken. From now on, for example, when the State Department issues a warning that someone has suspected terrorist ties, they'll also report whether that person holds a U.S. visa. That might have raised another red flag in Abdulmutallab's case. And Edward Alden, who studies visa policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, says it's just a good idea.
Mr. EDWARD ALDEN (Council on Foreign Relations): There should be procedures in place where if you have warnings about individuals and we know they posses U.S. visas, that the government ought to take another look at those visas.
HORSLEY: But Alden is less impressed with steps taken by the Homeland Security Department to tighten screening at international airports. Starting this week, anyone traveling to the U.S. from one of 14 suspect countries - including Yemen and Nigeria -will be subject to extra scrutiny such as pat-downs, luggage searches and in some cases, full-body scans.
Mr. ALDEN: It's a very crude tool that needlessly inconveniences a lot of people that we have nothing to worry about.
HORSLEY: Alden says terrorists are smart enough to simply launch their attacks from other countries and avoid the extra screening. Shoe bomber Richard Reid, for example, carried a British passport and flew from Paris. President Obama acknowledged yesterday that as terrorists adjust their tactics, United States will have to adjust its defenses. Some Republicans are again calling on the president to adjust his promise to close the Guantanamo prison camp. The administration is not going that far. But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says given the instability in Yemen right now, no more Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo will be transferred home.
Mr. ROBERT GIBBS (Spokesman, White House): While we remain committed to closing the facility, the determination has been made that right now, any additional transfers to Yemen is not a good idea.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama argued again yesterday that so long as it's open, Guantanamo serves as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida. He promised to close the prison in a way that keeps the American people safe.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.