Friday, Jan. 8, 2010

President Obama finally took action Thursday in response to an attempted suicide bomber attack on a Northwest Airline flight bound for Detroit from Amsterdam Christmas Day.

Obama ordered top intelligence to “patch gaps” in the way terrorists are checked and analyzed.

The alleged suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, purchased a ticket with cash, passed through a metal detector while carrying a bomb strapped to his underwear and boarded a flight carrying 300 passengers and crew.

According to the White House in a declassified report called “the shock report,” the suspect’s name had been misspelled; therefore, the State Department failed to revoke his visa even after his father told U.S. embassy officials his concern over his son’s disappearance. The National Counterterrorism Center and CIA “did not search all databases,” the White House stated.

The series of security lapses came under the president’s scrutiny, and rightfully so. Although human error occurs and is expected, such costly and numerous mistakes could have cost hundreds of people their lives.

An Obama adviser reportedly said that is “two strikes” – referring to the shooting spree by Maj. Nidal Hasan last November at Fort Hood.

After Sept. 11, 2001, the focus on stopping terrorist attacks on America has been at the forefront of numerous methods of security, from increased checks at airports to the continued war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

“When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way…” the president said Thursday.

The thwarted bomb attack will prompt more airport security. Although this will surely cause more inconveniences for airline customers, the security is obviously still needed, even more than eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks.