CIA rejects charge it failed to share bomb suspect intelligence

[cal04]

Source: AFP

The CIA on Wednesday rejected accusations that it failed to share vital information with other US intelligence agencies that might have helped prevent last week's attempted plane bomb attack.

The intelligence agency rejected charges that it possessed, but failed to disseminate, information about Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab that might have led to his being placed on a no-fly list.

"We learned of Abdulmutallab in November, when his father came to the US embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him. We did not have his name before then," said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano.

"Also in November, we worked with the embassy to ensure he was in the government's terrorist database -- including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen," the CIA spokesman said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091230/pl_afp/usattacksnigeriaintelligencecia_20091230172138

[Barack_America]

1. I believe the issue is whether that info was shared with other DC agencies.

Not what the CIA did or did not do in Nigeria.

[peacetalksforall]

2. National Counterterrosim Center. Is that the State Dept? So Gates

said - Not us, Hillary did it. Make that didn't do it. Of course, even if his name was on the no fly list - security and the airline let him on the flight posing as a citizen-refugee of Sudan. With no passport? If the stories are true.

[Wizard777]

3. Isn't that the agency Negroponte once headed? They report directly to the President.

They can't "speak truth to power" if they don't. But I agree it is their failure.

[IndianaGreen]

11. That's the glorious, and overpaid, clearinghouse of terrorist intel

and they seem to have dropped the ball on this one, big time!

[24601]

12. NCTC works for the Director of National Intelligence n/t

[truth2power]

4. So begins the finger-pointing. Shades of 9/11! Is anyone ever reprimanded?..

Is anyone ever fired? Of course not.

Seems strange. Unless it's all a put-up job.....Hmmm

[peacetalksforall]

5. I don't see Negoponte's name here - wiki -

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. NCTC advises the United States on terrorism. It is often described, inaccurately, as the real version of the Counter Terrorist Unit from the TV drama 24.

Contents
1 History
2 Activities
3 Leadership
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

History
The precursor organization of NCTC, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), established on May 1, 2003, was created by President George W. Bush by Executive Order 13354. President Bush announced the creation of TTIC in his 2003 State of the Union Address. TTIC was established in response to recommendations by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission) that investigated the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Among other things, the 9/11 Commission concluded that "none of the measures adopted by the U.S. government before 9/11 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al Qaeda plot."<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Counterterrorism_Center

[peacetalksforall]

6. Here's a clue - looks like the State Dept - fourth line -

NCTC:

Analyzes terrorism intelligence (except purely domestic terrorism);

Stores terrorism information;

Supports U.S. counterterrorism activities using information technology (IT); and

Plans counterterrorism activities as directed by the President of the United States, the National
Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

NCTC Goals:
Provide terrorism information to the intelligence community.

Products, such as detailed lists of terrorists, terrorist groups, and worldwide terrorist incidents.

Support the response to terrorist incidents in the U.S. and worldwide.

NCTC will write assessments and briefings for policymakers.

[peacetalksforall]

7. Current Director is - Michael E. Leiter. This is from the NYT in 2007

NYT
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: October 18, 2007
PHOTO


John Scott Redd, left, a retired vice admiral who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, is resigning for health reasons, effective next month, his office said. Admiral Redd has led the center since August 2005, shortly after Congress established it as the federal government's primary organization responsible for analysis and integration of terrorism intelligence. A spokesman for the center said that Admiral Redd, 63, would be having dual knee-replacement surgery in the coming weeks, and that he felt he would be away from his leadership duties too long to take a medical leave. Michael E. Leiter, the deputy, will become acting director after Admiral Redd steps down Nov. 10.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EFD6153EF93BA25753C1A9619C8B63

[struggle4progress]

8. 5 Weeks Earlier, CIA Warned of Detroit Flight Bomb Suspects

by Tom McGregor
Wed, Dec 30, 2009, 11:23 AM

The father of terrorist suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to bomb an airplane in Detroit, had reported his concerns about his son's Islamic radicalization directly to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) more than a month before the attempted bombing, as disclosed by a report.

"But," the Daily Telegraph of London reports that, "the warning was not passed on in full by the intelligence agency, a source told CNN. Abdulmutallab's father Alhaji Uma Abdulmutallab, a prominent banker, was said to have one face-to-face meeting with a CIA official in Nigeria and several contacts by telephone" ...

http://www.dallasblog.com/200912301005903/dallas-blog/5-weeks-earlier-cia-warned-of-detroit-flight-bomb-suspects.html

[struggle4progress]

9. Security services had month's warning about airline bomb plot

... the Dutch Government said security checks at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport revealed “no suspicious matters” as the 23-year-old boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit ...

But the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirmed it had been aware of Abdulmutallab’s “extremist connections” for at least a month.

“We learned of him in November, when his father came to the US embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him,” spokesman George Little said.

“We did not have his name before then. Also in November, we worked with the embassy to ensure he was in the government’s terrorist database – including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen” ...

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/world/security-services-had-months-warning-about-airline-bomb-plot-440153.html

[scentopine]

10. Be careful for what you wish for...

or they'll create another agency chartered with spying on us, staff it with private contractors and give them a 50 billion/yr budget.

Or maybe another agency in charge of monitoring the other agencies that are in charge of monitoring the other agencies.

Terrorism is an abstract and difficult to define problem and a perfect way to launder money to defense contractors.

A serious problem was thankfully averted, we should use the absence of hysteria to objectively study exactly what happened.

Of course, with CIA already spinning away, we'll never learn the truth... at least not for years and years.