Intelligence and flight security in 2009
Later today, President Obama gets a preliminary report on what went wrong in the country’s airport security systems. One of the things the report will mention is how U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted a call back in August that warned of a terror attack being carried out by a Nigerian man. Despite that, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab got onto a plane in Amsterdam with PETN on his person.
We talk to New York Times reporter Eric Lipton, who broke this story. And we are also joined by international security analyst Bob Ayers, who’s had a 30-year career in the intelligence services including the CIA, military intelligence and the National Security agency. He tells us why it’s so difficult to fix the nation’s intelligence system.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.