Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. border agents spotted possible extremist links of the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner and had singled him out to be questioned when the plane landed, an administration official said.

In a routine check of passengers scheduled to arrive in the country, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in a federal database of people who may have ties to terrorists and decided to interview him before allowing him admission to the U.S., the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Still, Abdulmutallab wasn’t on the terrorist watch list or among the individuals the U.S. bars from flying, which is why he wasn’t stopped before he got on the Northwest airlines plane in Amsterdam on Dec. 25, the official said.

The failure to put Abdulmutallab on the “no-fly” list even though other information about him was known to intelligence agencies is one of the missteps President Barack Obama said resulted in authorities not detecting the 23-year-old as a threat.

The administration plans to release a preliminary report today prepared by Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the government’s mistakes in the case. Obama has promised changes in security and intelligence procedures and he is scheduled to make a statement on the attempted bombing at 3 p.m. Washington time.

The public will feel “a certain shock” when the report is made public, White House National Security Adviser James Jones said in an interview with USA Today.

Integrating Intelligence

Obama has said everyone on his security team has “taken responsibility” for the failure to “integrate and understand” the available intelligence. No one has resigned or been fired so far.

“I don’t know what the final outcome in terms of hiring and firing will be,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday. He said he didn’t expect any personnel changes today.

“This was a screw up that could have been disastrous,” Obama said during a Jan. 5 meeting in the White House situation room with intelligence and national security officials, according to the administration. “We dodged a bullet but just barely.”

Abdulmutallab was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Detroit on six counts, including attempted murder. Authorities said he tried to destroy the plane carrying 290 people by using chemicals hidden under his clothing. The material failed to explode.

Collecting Information

The Central Intelligence Agency said it learned about Abdulmutallab in November when his father went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to seek help in finding him. Obama said Jan. 5 that some parts of the U.S. intelligence community were aware that Abdulmutallab had traveled to Yemen and linked up with extremists there. Other elements of the U.S. intelligence network knew that an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Yemen was working with an individual to strike American targets, he said.

Abdulmutallab was on the government’s Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, list which has about 550,000 names of those with possible terrorist links. He hadn’t been moved to a terrorist watch list, or to the “selectee” list of about 14,000 names that triggers additional screening at airports, or to the “no-fly” list, which has about 4,000 names.

U.S. lawmakers have questioned why Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t revoked after he was first linked to terrorist groups.

Links to Extremists

Yemeni and U.K. officials are trading charges over where Abdulmutallab was recruited by extremists. Abdulmutallab studied engineering and business at University College London from 2005 to 2008. Obama has said Abdulmutallab was trained and equipped by an al-Qaeda group in Yemen.

Deputy Premier for Defense and Security Affairs Rashad al- Alimi said Yemen’s investigation shows he joined al-Qaeda while in London. U.K. Home Secretary Alan Johnson told the House of Commons on Jan. 5 that while “people supporting violent extremism” have tried to recruit at U.K. colleges and universities, “Abdulmutallab’s family believes he turned to violent extremism after leaving the U.K.”

In addition to ordering the report, the president said he has directed department and agency chiefs to provide specific recommendation to fix the shortcomings exposed by the attempted terrorist attack.

The U.S. also is stepping up screening of air passengers bound for America from 14 countries including Algeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, putting more explosives detection teams at airports and dispatching more air marshals on flights.

As part of the new procedures, visa information will be included in State Department warnings on people with suspected terrorist ties.

–With assistance from Roger Runningen in Washington, Caroline Alexander in London, Andrew M. Harris at the U.S. Courthouse in Detroit and Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Robin Meszoly

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  3. Abdulmutallab Was In US Terror Suspect Database
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Filed under: Afghanistan War • Terror Attacks • War On Terror

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