Official: We Knew Al Qaeda Planned "Christmas Surprise"

Topics: Terror Monitor

(AP Photo/J.P. Karas)

A high-ranking counterterrorism official told CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies "knew Al Qaeda was promising a Christmas surprise" but weren't able to piece together the details in time to prevent the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight arriving in Detroit.

"We'd been tracking this stuff for months, without being able to connect the dots of what was happening, and what was going to happen," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The problem is they get 8,000 messages a day at the [National Counter Terrorism Center]. But we couldn't come up with something that was credible … so we assumed al Qaeda was still in the planning stages."

Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack

Al Qaeda's recruiting of Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – the son of a prominent banker there – is "case in point of how smart our enemy is," the official said. "It's becoming more and more that you can't profile anymore … because Al Qaeda is recruiting across a wide spectrum. We're now looking for any young Arab Muslim men between 21 and 40, but they know that as well, so they're actively recruiting folks outside that spectrum."

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by mary-miami January 4, 2010 11:48 AM EST

They're letting too many muslims into the country. How do we know that the person that enters a public place wearing a burqua, completely covering their face, isn't going to blow themselves up?
It's a scary thing. If they're going to whine about freedom of religion then they should practice their faith at home or temple, like everybody else does. Besides, it is an insult to all American women to have someone cover their face just because they are female...
Our faces are our main form of identity...to cover it other than for protection is humiliating.

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by AOCGUY January 4, 2010 1:54 PM EST: How do we know that the person that enters a public place wearing a moo-moo, completely covering their big butt, isn't going to blow themselves up?


by mikegetzin January 4, 2010 11:36 AM EST: handwriting is on the wall- time to immediately cancel all flights from the Middle East and Europe and until further notice ban Islam as it is a clear and present threat to all Western countries in Europe and the US. Doing nothing will guarantee successful attacks and why are we tolerating this? Communism was never this dangerous.; Reply to this comment


by msay3 December 30, 2009 5:28 PM EST: ***!!! = What The F**k!!!; Reply to this comment


by msay3 December 30, 2009 5:26 PM EST: US intelligence agencies aware of "Christmas plot"? ***!!! It makes us look like a bunch of bungling idiots!!!!; Reply to this comment

by NowBeWithThat December 30, 2009 4:37 PM EST

America is the greatest nation on earth, without question.

Yet arrogance, underestimating our enemies and encouraging a false sense of security are part of what enabled the 9/11 attacks to succeed.

Our POTUS is sacrificing national security in some misguided campaign to make America the kumbaya capital of the earth.

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by bobnjersey December 30, 2009 6:29 PM EST: [Our POTUS is sacrificing national security in some misguided campaign to make America the kumbaya capital of the earth. ]

don't tell me ... it was the bowing to foreign leader thing ... or is it that everyone loves him ... or maybe it's that suddenly after eight years of 'it does not matter what others around the world think of us' ... now everything a democratic president does somehow reflects badly on us to none other than ... the rest of the world.

why don't you outline exactly how ... using as much rational thought as you can muster ... his actions or inactions sacrifices national security.


by username555-2009 December 30, 2009 4:35 PM EST: "We'd been tracking this stuff for months, without being able to connect the dots of what was happening, and what was going to happen" "But we couldn't come up with something that was credible ?" Well, that's the understatement of the year; playing connect-the-dots or tiddledy-winks is a little to complicated for the type of officials the government puts into these positions. Standard Operating Procedure: Making a mountain out of a molehill and then trying to backpedal on why they failed to see the mountain. And who exactly is this "high ranking counter-terrorism official" you quote? I'd like to know so I can apply for his job.; Reply to this comment


by username555-2009 December 30, 2009 4:02 PM EST: Media - please give it up already. You are making us sick with your "terrorist this" and "terrorist that" nonsense, when we are aware you are stirring the pot for more wars and more "news". Anyone who believes that a skinny black nerd with no friends and firecracker pants is Al-Qaeda deserves to have their rights and liberties taken away from them. You know darn well the CIA invented the Al-Qaeda boogey-man as justification for their existence and continued funding of the "War on Terror". Enough!; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey December 30, 2009 4:00 PM EST: [A high-ranking counterterrorism official told CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies "knew Al Qaeda was promising a Christmas surprise" but weren't able to piece together the details in time to prevent the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight arriving in Detroit. ]

there's not dots to connect. you had a young nigerian male purchase a ticket w/ cash whose destination was the u.s. on christmas day. this same nigerian has a passport that would have shown that he was in yemen for months just a day before he arrives in nigeria to take this flight to the u.s. nobody notices anything unusual until he literally lights himself on fire in the cabin of the plane?

if anyone should have gotten further scrutiny it should have been him ... but it's likely they didn't have the means to scrutinize him since they were too busy giving nuns pat downs and having woman removing their blouses behind the partition.

absolutely pathetic ... and it's no surprise that eveyone will have a convenient excuse for why 'the dots were not connected'.

they're not protecting anyone ... and this incident shows they have no capacity to protect anyone.; Reply to this comment


by rykatspop December 30, 2009 3:55 PM EST: Hah, ha, and just imagine how reformed health care is gonna work. I'm all for a reformed system, but watch out. We are going to be skewered in more ways than you can imagine. No body has their lights on between the ears. It's only going to get scarier--on a lot of fronts.; Reply to this comment


by national1942 December 30, 2009 3:05 PM EST: Does this article make you mad? It does me. We don't need more laws and checkpoints at airports. WE NEED OFFICIALS WHO ARE ON TOP OF THINGS AND AWARE OF THEIR JOBS AND TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD THIS WHOLE EPISODE WAS PREVENTABLE. Lax security at airports, state dinner crashers, what next!! Get it together guys (and girls) before some of us get killed by your failure to do your jobs and your unwillingness to share information with other agencies. Hello! We're all Americans here try to avoid a major disaster...SHARE YOUR INFORMATION AND DO THE RIGHT THING. I'm getting tired of all this 'stuff' going on right underneath your noses and you MISSING the smell.; Reply to this comment