American Morning
Obama: Intel failure was potentially disastrous
President Obama delivered a loud-and-clear message to his national security team yesterday. The president used strong language in a private meeting in the Situation Room with top aides, a senior administration official said.
"This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," he said, according to the official. "We dodged a bullet, but just barely."
The president is pressuring his team to fix the mistakes that led to the attempted airline bombing Christmas Day. What can be done going forward? And will anyone be held accountable for failing to connect the dots?
On Wednesday's American Morning we discussed the matter with National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
Security experts: People are key to preventing attacks
Editor’s Note: Stephen Flynn served on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. He is president of the Center for National Policy and the author of “The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation.” Frances Townsend is a CNN national security contributor and former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush. She is a partner at the international law firm Baker Botts.
(CNN) – Tougher airport security checks are in place today. Travelers flying into the United States from 14 high-risk countries will now be subject to body scans and pat-downs. Passengers on other incoming international flights will also be subject to more frequent random searches. But what does all that mean and will it really make us safer in the air?
On Monday’s American Morning we dug deeper into the new security measures with homeland security expert Stephen Flynn and CNN National Security Contributor Frances Townsend. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
Kiran Chetry: Anybody flying into the U.S. faces these random screenings. All passengers coming from those 14 ‘terror-prone’ nations will be patted down and have their carry-on bags searched. How much does that tighten the net? Does it go far enough?
Stephen Flynn: We have a real challenge here. Airline security was viewed as the crown jewel of our post-9/11 homeland security efforts and obviously this latest incident exposed some serious gaps. There are limits though to just what we can do to pat down and screen every bit of our way to security. One of the two key elements that were very essential for preventing this attack was first the report from the father about the terrorist. That's a very important tool that we need to be able to use.
The other piece was of course the actions of the passengers themselves on the plane to obstruct the attack. We need to remember that in the overall layers of security that we embrace that our greatest asset often is everyday people. And to the extent to which some of the prescriptions that are coming out are really centered around technology and just heavily around the inspection process here, we're losing sight of the bigger picture.
New year brings new threats in war on terror
As President Obama returns to Washington today after his Hawaiian vacation, terrorism is at the top of his agenda. The new year brings a new front in the fight against al Qaeda. Our Jim Acosta has the report.
Inside look at America's security
President Obama is demanding answers after an alleged trail of missed signals in the Christmas Day bomb plot. So how did this happen and what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again?
Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff discussed the matter with us on Thursday's American Morning.
Catch terrorists with ethnic profiling?
The attempted bombing of Flight 253 has revived the debate over ethnic profiling. New York State lawmaker Dov Hikind plans to resurrect a bill to let police use ethnicity when deciding who to stop, question and search. He says we should "go with the odds" when so many lives are at stake.
On Thursday's American Morning we discussed ethnic profiling with Rafi Ron, CEO of New Age Security Solutions and former security chief at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, and Mike German, a former FBI special agent and counsel for the ACLU.
Bomb attempt may lead to more sniffer dogs
Travelers moving through the nation's airports this week will probably see more dogs on patrol. They're trained to sniff out explosives in luggage and they can also smell a bomb on a person. But in this AM original report our Kara Finnstrom found out the public may not allow it.
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