Obama begins New Year with eye on intelligence

President Barack Obama is reviewing reports from homeland security officials as his administration tries to determine what U.S. policy and personnel failures preceded the attempted bombing of a jetliner bound from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Intelligence officials, meanwhile, prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress about miscommunication among anti-terror agencies and sweeping changes expected under Mr. Obama’s watch.
Democrats joined a chorus led by Mr. Obama in declaring the government’s intelligence procedures in need of repair. Among them, Democratic Rep. Jane Harman said that when the government gets tipped to trouble as it did before a 23-year-old Nigerian man boarded the Northwest Airlines jet with explosives, “someone’s hair should be on fire.”
One senior administration official told reporters travelling with the vacationing president: “The failure to share that information is not going to be tolerated.”
The official, like others involved in the reviews, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence discussions.
The Senate Intelligence Committee announced Jan. 21 hearings as part of an investigation to begin sooner. “We will be following the intelligence down the rabbit hole to see where the breakdown occurred and how to prevent this failure in the future,” said Sen. Kit Bond, top Republican on the committee. “Somebody screwed up big time.”
Few questioned that judgment, even if some Democrats rendered it in more measured tones.
Mr. Obama received a preliminary assessment ahead of meetings he will hold in Washington next week on fixing the failures of U.S. anti-terrorism policy. Administration officials said the system to protect America’s skies from terrorists was deeply flawed and, even then, the government failed to follow its own directives.
Mr. Obama spoke separately with counterterrorism adviser John Brennan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who announced she was dispatching senior department officials to international airports to review their security procedures.
Despite billions of dollars spent to sharpen America’s eye on dangerous malcontents abroad and at home, the creation of an intelligence-information overseer and countless declarations of intentions to cooperate, it was already clear that the country’s national security fiefdoms were still not operating in harmony before the attempted bombing on Dec. 25.
The preliminary assessment is part of a continuing, urgent examination that officials said on Thursday is highlighting signals that should not have been missed. One likely outcome, they said, was new requirements within the government to review a suspicious person’s visa status.