Obama pledges changes on security

President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials had enough information to prevent the Christmas Day terrorism attempt but failed to connect the dots — a breakdown he said was “not acceptable” — and he vowed changes are coming.

Mr. Obama suspended transfers of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen amid revelations that the terrorist suspect trained there. The move was a reversal of administration statements this weekend.

The president, however, shot down speculation that the White House would back off plans to shutter the prison at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“When a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way. And it’s my responsibility to find out why and to correct that failure so that we can prevent such attacks in the future,” Mr. Obama said after a two-hour meeting with security advisers.

The botched attack, in which a Nigerian man attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a Detroit-bound international flight, prompted the White House earlier this week to beef up aviation screening procedures. New policies include random pat-downs for all U.S. passengers and mandatory pat-downs and luggage searches for all passengers traveling from or through 14 countries with suspected terrorist ties.

Mr. Obama said counterterrorism officials have updated the no-fly list, which now will require embassies and consulates to provide visa information on suspected terrorists. U.S. officials failed to place the name of the suspect in the airline attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on the list despite warnings from his father to U.S. officials in Nigeria.

Mr. Obama said he plans to release a summary of security reviews on the no-fly list and airline screening procedures to the public in the coming days. He also ordered Cabinet officials to make “specific recommendations” to fix existing problems in the systems.

He said the U.S. would freeze transfers of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen. Just two days earlier, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan told Fox News Sunday that the administration would “absolutely” continue transferring detainees there on a case-by-case basis.

Republicans pounced on the president’s renewed pledge to close the military prison in Cuba, which houses about 198 terrorism suspects.

The Obama administration recently selected the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois to house some of the Guantanamo prisoners once they leave Cuba.

“Unless the administration abandons its ill-conceived and politically motivated plans to close [Guantanamo], most Americans won’t find much solace in transferring detainees that would have gone to Yemen and housing them on American soil,” said Rep. Darrell Issa of California, senior Republican on a House government oversight panel.

“Hopefully, recent events will have awakened the president to the reality that our national and homeland security must supersede the politics of the moment.”

But Mr. Obama said Guantanamo’s existence was one of the reasons al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claims it trained Mr. Abdulmutallab, gave for its formation.

“Make no mistake: We will close Guantanamo prison, which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al Qaeda,” Mr. Obama said.

As for increasing air travel restrictions, Democrats and civil liberties groups suggested that Mr. Obama proceed cautiously.

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