Obama plans meetings on airliner plot

Some US agencies have already implemented new procedures.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama closed 2009 on a somber note, consoling the CIA over seven officers and contractors killed Wednesday in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber and receiving preliminary findings on intelligence failures that enabled a Nigerian with alleged Islamic extremist ties to board a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas Day with explosives in his underwear.

In a statement released Thursday from Hawaii, where the president has been vacationing with his family, Obama said he would meet Tuesday in Washington with multiple agency heads to address the investigation and the next steps.

Obama said he had spoken in the morning with his chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, regarding “preliminary assessments” of what went wrong; and with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about enhanced detection and security measures that are being implemented.

“I anticipate receiving assessments from several agencies this evening and will review those tonight and over the course of the weekend,” Obama said. He didn’t share any substantive details.

In Washington, some federal agencies were moving to improve their procedures even before Obama reacted to early findings.

A senior U.S. official said the State Department intends to institute a change in which U.S. embassies that receive any information about a person of interest or concern and cable that information back to federal agencies in Washington, would now also automatically notify agencies of that person’s visa status.

That didn’t happen in the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmtallab, who allegedly boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 carrying explosives.

The suspect’s father had warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria weeks earlier of his son’s extremist connections in Yemen, and U.S. intelligence agencies may have known months earlier about a possible Nigerian threat but had never connected the dots.

As a result, Abdulmutallab’s U.S. visa remained valid, and officials didn’t add his name to a no-fly or enhanced airport screening list.

Separately, Obama on Thursday wrote in a message to the CIA that “the men and women who gave their lives in Afghanistan did their duty with courage, honor and excellence, and we must draw strength from the example of their sacrifice.”

The president told CIA employees that their clandestine work is essential to helping the nation understand risks and protect Americans: “You have served in the shadows, and your sacrifices have sometimes been unknown to your fellow citizens.”