Bomber Report Out Today a Shocker: Jones

Yemen confirms attacker met Awlaki; explosives Nigerian
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 7, 2010 7:08 AM CST
Updated Jan 7, 2010 7:53 AM CST
Bomber Report Out Today a Shocker: Jones
This Oct. 2008 file photo shows Imam Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.   (AP Photo/Muhammad ud-Deen, File)

The public will feel “a certain shock” at the security failures outlined in the unclassified report on the Christmas Day attack being released today, says national security adviser Jim Jones. In an interview with USA Today, Jones doesn’t downplay the miscues, saying President Obama is “legitimately and correctly alarmed” that intelligence wasn’t acted upon. Combined with the Fort Hood shooting, “that’s two strikes,” says Jones. “He certainly doesn’t want that third strike.”

Meanwhile, a Yemeni official confirmed a link between those attacks, telling the BBC that alleged would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had met with radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who authorities believe was also in contact with the Fort Hood shooter. Abdulmutallab was recruited in London, the official said, then flew to Yemen to meet Awlaki. But he noted that the explosives were from Nigeria, not Yemen. (More Anwar al-Awlaki stories.)

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