U.S. Knew of Airline Terror Plot Before Christmas

Fox News ^ | 12/30/09 | Unknown

[Blood of Tyrants]

The U.S. government had intelligence from Yemen before Christmas that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about "a Nigerian" being prepared for a terrorist attack, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

A senior official told the Times that President Obama was told in a private meeting Tuesday while vacationing in Hawaii that the government had a variety of information in its possession before the failed bombing on a Detroit-bound flight last week that would have been a clear warning sign had it been shared among intelligence agencies.

The newspaper said the information did not include the name of the Nigerian.

A CIA official prepared a report on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after a meeting with the suspect's father in November, who shared information about his son's extremist views, CNN reported Tuesday. The report was sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated, a "reliable source" said.

[GOPJ]

Why we allow the equivalent of terrorist recruiters into our prisons is beyond me. If they're not quite "terrorist recruiters" they're one step from it...

If a group of pedophile rapists got together and started a "religion" the prison system would probably let them in to "convert" the cons... What a world... Is everyone nuts?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[piasa]

The report was sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated, a "reliable source" said.

Bear in mind that up until the Niger intel via the father - which included the man's name of course- earlier intel referred not to AbdulMutallab but to an unknown nameless guy dubbed "The Nigerian," who after the fact looks like the same guy. Unless there's another Nigerian out there...

A source says here the CIA informed Napolitano's agency and others of the Nigerian intel on November 20, 2009:

The initial meeting Nov. 19 led to a broader gathering of multiple U.S. agencies the next day, including representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and the CIA, in which the information was shared, a U.S. official said. ----...---------Father of Terror Suspect Met With CIA Official in Nigeria, wsj ^ | 12/29/09 Posted on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 7:49:26 PM by HD1200

[bt579]

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was placed on the British government’s watch list in May 2009 and banned from entering the country, the U.S. embassy in London (and by extension the U.S. State Department), as well as U.S. intelligence agencies, were notified of this move as part of information-sharing agreements entered into by a number of Western governments after the September 11, 2001 attacks, says a U.S. State Department employee on the condition of anonymity because of concern that by speaking about the situation, their job could be endangered.

This employee says that despite statements from the Obama Administration, such information was flagged and given higher priority during the Bush Administration, but that since the changeover “we are encouraged to not create the appearance that we are profiling or targeting Muslims. I think career employees were uncomfortable with the Bush procedures and policies and were relieved to not have to live under them any longer.”

[Grampa Dave]