Heritage Foundation - Terror prevention system failure

December 29, 2009 | By Amanda Reinecker

On Christmas Day, a 23-year-old Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a homemade bomb onboard a packed Northwest Airlines flight headed for Detroit. Thanks to a faulty detonator and a few brave passengers, the young terrorist's bomb failed to go off. But this close call raises many serious concerns about airport security.

To put it simply, "the system failed," writes Heritage's Conn Carroll. Even though the explosive Abdulmutallab used can be easily detected and the young man's father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria about his son, the attack very nearly happened. A proper screening process would have exposed both of these findings and kept this enemy combatant from boarding any aircraft. In short, Carroll argues, "the Flight 253 incident was an intelligence failure."

There have been 28 foiled terror plots against the U.S. since 9/11. The vast majority of these -- 26 -- were foiled directly by the important counterterrorism tools the U.S. has adopted since the September 11 attacks. But the Detroit terror plot last week was foiled by luck and courageous bystanders. It exposed the shortcomings of these national security measures and the need to improve and strengthen them.

"Throwing more money at airline security" is not the way to go, Heritage expert James Carafano explains. Instead, as Carroll notes, "the most effective means of stopping terrorist attacks is to disrupt them as early as possible." This means stopping terror plots before they even start. Specifically, the U.S. should:

• Support and strengthen existing counterterrorism tools. Tools such as the PATRIOT Act and the Terrorist Watch List exist to aid in the detection of suspicious persons through the use of modern intelligence. Unfortunately, their use is hampered by laws and regulations that keep this intelligence from security screeners and prevent them from "connecting the dots."

• Strengthen our international anti-terror coalitions. Heritage expert Jena Baker McNeil explains that the Christmas plot was truly international. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, resided in London and his plane left from Amsterdam. Congress should place a stronger emphasis on sharing intelligence with other countries.

• Target the root. Al Qaeda has reportedly taken credit for the Christmas terror plot, demonstrating the terrorist network's global reach. This claim (which has not yet been confirmed) emphasizes the need to continue fighting them wherever they take sanctuary.

"America just got lucky," Conn Carroll explains. "The plot [last week] was clumsy and the passengers and crew responded bravely and quickly." The Administration and Congress have to start taking the fight against terrorism more seriously and use our counterterrorism tools more effectively – all of the time. Because next time -- and there will likely be a next time -- we might not be so lucky.