From AFP, on today's release of the attempted terrorist attack review:
The White House will on Thursday release an unclassified version of a report into intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch-lists, following the thwarted Christmas Day airliner attack.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he anticipated the public portion of the report "will be released tomorrow" after President Barack Obama receives a classified version of the data from his top anti-terror expert John Brennan.
"I think you'll see tomorrow that this is a failure that touches across the full waterfront of our intelligence agencies," Gibbs said, adding that Obama would make a public statement on the review on Thursday.
"The review will simply identify and make recommendations as to what was lacking and what needs to be strengthened," Gibbs said.
On Tuesday, Obama said that the review into the terrorist watch-listing system had revealed "human and systemic failures" that led to the attempted downing of a Northwest jet carrying 290 people on Christmas Day.
From the New York Times, on enhanced airport screening and security procedures:
As he arrived at O’Hare International airport here on Wednesday, Dennis Weyrauch, a passenger, described two hours of waiting and scrutiny at the airport in Amsterdam before his plane took off: as happened to all passengers on his flight, his carry-on bag was searched methodically by hand, the insides of bottles in his toilet kit studied and his body patted down.
“It was thorough; it was extensive; it felt like a police pat down,” said Mr. Weyrauch, who is 53 and a lawyer from Eagle, Idaho. “It seemed excessive to tell you the truth. I didn’t get any additional measure of comfort from the security measures, and I wondered, as a practical matter, how long they’re going to be able to do this.”
At airports around the country nearly two weeks after a thwarted terrorism attempt on a flight to Detroit, dozens of travelers told of remarkably different experiences with security measures. For domestic flights, many noticed little new, aside from more police dogs in terminals and, in some instances, random pat-downs and bag checks.
From the Associated Press, on the indictment of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab:
A Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day was indicted Wednesday on charges including attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was traveling from Amsterdam when he tried to destroy the plane by injecting chemicals into a package of pentrite explosive concealed in his underwear, authorities say.
The failed attack caused popping sounds and flames that passengers and crew rushed to extinguish.
The bomb was designed to detonate "at a time of his choosing," the grand jury's indictment said.
There is no specific mention of terrorism in the seven-page indictment, but President Barack Obama considers the incident an attempted strike against the United States by an affiliate of al-Qaida.
Abdulmutallab has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. His father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in Yemen, but that threat was never fully digested by the U.S. security apparatus
Leadership Events
Secretary Napolitano will participate in a briefing with Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C.