Today, President Barack Obama strongly criticized the F.B.I. and C.I.A.'s failure to "connect the dots" using existing intelligence information, in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airplane landing in Detroit. It has been reported, dozens of names have now been moved from the terrorist watch list to the no fly list, as it was revealed, terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was on the former, not the latter.

President Says U.S. Missed Key Bomb Clues

JANUARY 5, 2010, 9:51 P.M. ET - WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, in his harshest remarks yet on the terrorism threat facing the nation, said U.S. intelligence agencies knew that al Qaeda in Yemen was targeting the U.S., but "failed to connect those dots" to thwart a Christmas Day bombing attempt.

The remarks capped a day in which the president, facing heat from Republicans over what they paint as a lackluster initial response, summoned most of his cabinet and security team to meetings on counterterrorism in an effort to show his administration's engagement on the issue...

http://online.wsj.com

Obama sharply criticizes intelligence failure in Christmas bombing attempt

Posted: 01/05/2010 06:50:40 PM PST - WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies could have prevented the attempt to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day, and used a grim and forceful White House statement to demand rapid improvements in efforts to protect Americans from attack.

"This was not a failure to collect intelligence," Obama said after meeting with senior national security and intelligence officials, "it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had. ....That's not acceptable, and I will not tolerate it."...

"Our intelligence community failed to connect those dots," the president said. "We have to do better, and we will do better, and we have to do it quickly. American lives are on the line."...

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