Reacting to what he called "human and systemic failures," President Barack Obama Tuesday said "enhanced passenger screening" for air travel would be announced "in the coming days," according to a White House transcript.
After meeting with his national security team and other cabinet members, Obama said, "We'll enhance our defenses, including smarter screening and security at airports, and investing in the technologies that might have detected the kind of explosives used on Christmas."
Following the Christmas Day attempt to destroy a Northwest Airlines jet en route to Detroit from Amsterdam, Obama said he ordered Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano "to review aviation screening, technology and procedures." That review, he said, "is drawing on the best science and technology," and involves the Department of Energy.
Obama also said he ordered counterterrorism and homeland security advisor John Brennan to "lead a thorough review into our terrorist watch-listing system so we can fix what went wrong. ... The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack, but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots, which would have placed the suspect on the 'no fly' list. When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way."
Obama said he wants the two initial reviews "completed this week" and reforms "implemented immediately." He also has ordered "more explosive detection teams at airports, more air marshals on flights and deepening cooperation with international partners."
One specific action already taken by the TSA took effect Monday and requires "enhanced" screening of inbound air passengers departing from or transiting through "nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest."