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2010-01-07 Home Front: WoT

U.S. learned intelligence on airline attack suspect while he was en route

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Posted by tipper 2010-01-07 08:03|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed him by that much."

Posted by Tom- Pa 2010-01-07 08:19|| 2010-01-07 08:19|| Front Page Top

#2 Nobody made that GIANT leap of logic based on his seating and other pertinent data and happened to say...hey WTF if the plane he is on is the target aircraft?

Posted by Besoeker 2010-01-07 08:27|| 2010-01-07 08:27|| Front Page Top

#3 As I understand it he was seated above the fuel tanks. I haven't heard if this was accidental or intensional but I think the airlines should implement a policy of creating an Islamic section near the rear of the aircraft where Halil food will be served and they are far and away from the gas tanks. Then any Muslim that requests to be seated near the fuel tanks can get extra scrutiny.

They should also reserve the seats near the fuel tanks for Air Marshals.

They should also make a point of filling the seats near the fuel tanks first.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-01-07 09:50|| 2010-01-07 09:50|| Front Page Top

#4 How about just upholstering the seats near things like the fuel tanks or the windows with pigskin leather?

Posted by gorb 2010-01-07 10:34|| 2010-01-07 10:34|| Front Page Top

#5 CYA, blame game, etc, etc.

[Law enforcement official.]

"They could have made the decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane," the senior law enforcement official said.

[Administration official.]

But an administration official said late Wednesday that the information would not have resulted in further scrutiny before the suspect departed. Abdulmutallab was in a database containing half a million names of people with suspected extremist links but who are not considered threats. Therefore, border security officials would have sought only to question him upon arrival in the U.S., the administration official said.

But they asserted that the likelihood of Abdulmutallab being intercepted in Amsterdam was low because he was not on the no-fly list, which contains about 4,000 names, or a separate terrorism watch "selectee" list that contains fewer than 20,000 names. Instead, the Nigerian was on the larger database.

[Former senior homeland security official]

The real breakdown came months before the flight because intelligence officials failed to match the father's tip with intercepts about a suspected plot involving a Nigerian, a former senior homeland security official said.

"There was enough information in the system to make the guy a selectee or a no-fly without hoping for Customs and Border Protection to detect it at the last minute," the official said.

[Atty. Gen.]

"This investigation is fast-paced, global and ongoing, and it has already yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said. "Anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool -- military or judicial -- available to our government."

Posted by Willy 2010-01-07 11:04|| 2010-01-07 11:04|| Front Page Top

#6 IMHO the departure lounge should be treated like an embassy in the country is treated. i.e. as a part of the country it connects to rather than the country it's in.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2010-01-07 11:06|| 2010-01-07 11:06|| Front Page Top

#7 Ok, so why wasn't that flight IMMEDIATELY diverted to the nearest airport before the idiot had a chance to get to the restroom and prepare the explosive?

The response at that moment should have been:

1. Put the passengers in "lockdown" ... nothing on their laps, nobody unescorted to the bathroom.

2. Divert the flight immediately to the nearest airport ... Ireland, Greenland, Newfoundland wherever.

The key would have been to "freeze" the passengers in place so that the bomb could not be prepared/detonated and get the plane on the ground, get the suspect passenger off the plane, and then allow the flight to continue.

Posted by crosspatch 2010-01-07 12:26|| 2010-01-07 12:26|| Front Page Top

#8 U.S. learned intelligence on airline attack suspect while he was en route

Better late than never. /sarc

Posted by gorb 2010-01-07 13:52|| 2010-01-07 13:52|| Front Page Top

#9 rjschwartz: As I understand it he was seated above the fuel tanks. I haven't heard if this was accidental or intensional

It is ABSOLUTELY intentional. This is al Qaeda standard operating procedure in airline bombings, dating from 1994. In that year, Ramzi Yousef wished to test a bomb design on an airliner. He chose Philippine Airlines flight 434, Cebu to Tokyo. He inserted his bomb in a life jacket stowed under a seat. The seat he chose was (he thought) directly above the center wing tank.

Posted by Pstanley 2010-01-07 15:32|| 2010-01-07 15:32|| Front Page Top

#10 I'm not sure why the realtive sizes of the watch lists would be significant. Although I have sometimes felt as if my ticket agent was reviewing a 2000 person database by hand, but I'm banking that the databases are probably computerized so it would not take appreciably longer to add everone who has ever been to Yemen onto the list and keep things safe.

Posted by Super Hose 2010-01-07 21:31|| 2010-01-07 21:31|| Front Page Top

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