After reviewing preliminary reports from intelligence agencies over the past few days and meeting with his Cabinet and National Security team on Tuesday, President Obama said that there was sufficient information regarding the terror plot to bring down an airline on Christmas day, but that intelligence officials “failed to connect those dots” that would have prevented the incident.
NYT: This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had,” Mr. Obama said after a two-hour meeting with his national security team at the White House. He added, “We have to do better, we will do better and we have to do it quickly. American lives are on the line.”
The president renewed his commitment to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but said the transfers of detainees to Yemen would be suspended immediately. He said the intelligence and law-enforcement reviews of the terror plot would be completed this week and additional security measures would be announced in the coming days.
