Systemic and Human Failures led to al-Qaeda Bomb Attempt
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama addressed Americans about the Christmas Day bomb attempt by an al-Qaeda follower. The now infamous incident occurred on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nearly blew the plane up with a bomb sewn into his pants until passengers and crew members on board banded together to stop him.
al-Qaeda has already admitted to being responsible for the attack, saying that it was in retaliation to a raid in Yemen that killed 60 people. They also threatened that they will attack the American people without warning, because they support the leaders who run the country. Soon after this statement, Umar told those who were questioning them that al-Qaeda is preparing others like him in Yemen to attack the US.
Since all of this has come out through the media, Obama has ordered a review of the watch list for terrorists, for which Umar was on. He admitted in his speech to Americans on Tuesday that there was critical information regarding Umar as a bombing suspect, but it wasn’t effectively shared among all intelligence and security agencies in the time leading up to the attack. The information he is referring to was a warning to US officials in Africa from Umar’s own father that his son might be a risk, as he was developing extremist views.
If the information had been shared like it should have been, then the suspected bomber would have never been allowed on the plane, he continued. Obama also said that the systemic and human failures that contributed to the incident is totally unacceptable, as it could have been a catastrophic breach of security.
This is a stereotypical issue that plays out a lot in films, where authorities are warned of something by locals and think nothing of it. However, Obama says that there was information available to intelligence that should have been put together, even without the reported warning from the attacker’s father. Maybe whoever missed all this (no matter how many) should go back to school before US security is put back into their hands. They are obviously not their doing their job the way it should be done.
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