Bomb Plot, Near Escape Point to Huge Holes in Security

(Newser) – Officials are probing huge holes in a US security net that allowed the Times Square bomb suspect to travel back home to Pakistan for several months of terrorist training, then purchase gallons of explosive chemicals for his car bomb. In addition, incredibly, suspect Faisal Shahzad was allowed to board a plane at JFK airport and very nearly escaped authorities who had "lost him" during surveillance even though he was on a no-fly security list. "Why wasn't he apprehended before arriving at the airport or boarding the plane?" an official asks the Washington Post.

Observers point to a flaw in intelligence that tends to ignore well-educated individuals that can integrate well into American society. Shahzad graduated from a US university. This is "the future in America for what we have to watch for in terrorism," said Intelligence Committee member Sen. John Rockefeller. "It's very hard to protect against, because you don't know who they are." The net began to close around Shahzad only after his failed bomb attempt. Yet even then, Shahzad stepped onto a plane more than 10 hours after his name was posted on an emergency no-fly list.