Napolitano does about-face on airline security
Source: Agencies |
December 29, 2009, Tuesday
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UNITED States Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said yesterday the aviation safety system failed when a young man on a watch list with an American visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a fight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The Obama administration has ordered investigations into two areas of aviation security - how travelers are placed on watch lists and how passengers are screened - as critics questioned how the Nigerian man, 23, charged in the airliner attack, was allowed to board the Christmas Day flight.
A day after saying the security system worked, Napolitano backtracked, saying her words had been "taken out of context."
"Our system did not work in this instance," she said on NBC's "Today" show. "No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way."
The White House press office, traveling with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii, said early yesterday he would make a statement. White House spokesman Bill Burton did not elaborate.
Billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when airliners were hijacked and used as weapons.
Much of that money has gone toward training and equipment that some security experts say could have detected the explosive device that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of hiding on his body on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Abdulmutallab has been charged in federal court with trying to detonate the device as the plane approached Detroit. The device burst into flames instead, according to authorities, and he was subdued by passengers. The plane landed safely.
A federal judge in Detroit was expected to decide late yesterday to grant a request by the government to obtain a DNA sample from Abdulmutallab.
Harold Demuren, the head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, said Abdulmutallab paid cash on December 16 forthe US$2,831 round-trip ticket from Lagos, in Nigeria, toDetroit via Amsterdam.
He said Abdulmutallab's ticket came from a KLM office in Accra, Ghana.
On Sunday, Napolitano said: "One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked."
Yesterday she said she was referring to the system of notifying other flights as well as law enforcement on the ground about the incident soon after it happened.
The top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee took issue with Napolitano's initial assessment.
Airport security "failed in every respect," Peter King said on Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's not reassuring when the secretary of Homeland Security says the system worked."
The Obama administration has ordered investigations into two areas of aviation security - how travelers are placed on watch lists and how passengers are screened - as critics questioned how the Nigerian man, 23, charged in the airliner attack, was allowed to board the Christmas Day flight.
A day after saying the security system worked, Napolitano backtracked, saying her words had been "taken out of context."
"Our system did not work in this instance," she said on NBC's "Today" show. "No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way."
The White House press office, traveling with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii, said early yesterday he would make a statement. White House spokesman Bill Burton did not elaborate.
Billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when airliners were hijacked and used as weapons.
Much of that money has gone toward training and equipment that some security experts say could have detected the explosive device that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of hiding on his body on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Abdulmutallab has been charged in federal court with trying to detonate the device as the plane approached Detroit. The device burst into flames instead, according to authorities, and he was subdued by passengers. The plane landed safely.
A federal judge in Detroit was expected to decide late yesterday to grant a request by the government to obtain a DNA sample from Abdulmutallab.
Harold Demuren, the head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, said Abdulmutallab paid cash on December 16 forthe US$2,831 round-trip ticket from Lagos, in Nigeria, toDetroit via Amsterdam.
He said Abdulmutallab's ticket came from a KLM office in Accra, Ghana.
On Sunday, Napolitano said: "One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked."
Yesterday she said she was referring to the system of notifying other flights as well as law enforcement on the ground about the incident soon after it happened.
The top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee took issue with Napolitano's initial assessment.
Airport security "failed in every respect," Peter King said on Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's not reassuring when the secretary of Homeland Security says the system worked."
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