Obama releasing details of airline terror foul-ups
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- During his flight overseas, Security officials had flagged the name of the Christmas Day airline bombing suspect for extra security screening once he landed in Detroit, U.S. officials said Thursday as they prepared to release the clearest look yet at government missteps in the near-catastrophe.
The White House on Thursday planned to make public a declassified account of how a suspected terrorist slipped through post-Sept. 11 security to board the plane with an explosive. President Barack Obama was to address the nation about the findings and recommendations. Obama was also to reveal new steps intended to thwart terrorist attacks, as he promised earlier in the week.
No firings over the December security debacle are expected - for now, at least.
In an interview published Thursday by USA Today, national security adviser Gen. James Jones said people who read the report will feel "a certain shock."
Elaborating, Jones said, "The man on the street ... will be surprised that these correlations weren't made" between clues pointing toward a threat from Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Even though the 23-year-old Nigerian man was in a database of possible terrorists, he allegedly managed to fly from Nigeria through Amsterdam to Detroit with an explosive concealed on his body.
Homeland Security officials say they had flagged Abdulmutallab as someone who should go through additional security screening upon landing. In a statement early Thursday, the department said the alleged bomber's potential ties to extremists came up in a routine check of passengers en route to the U.S. from overseas.
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