SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE Unclassified Executive Summary of the Committee Report on the Attempted Terrorist Attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253
May 18, 2010
The SSCI report identifies fourteen specific points of failure-a series of human errors, technical problems, systemic obstacles, analytical misjudgments, and competing priorities-which resulted in Abdulmutallab being able to travel to the United States on December 25,2009. Those points of failure are:
1. The State Department Did Not Revoke Abdulmutallab's U.S. Visa.2. Abdulmutallab Was Not Placed in the “Terrorist Screening Database” (TSDB), on the Selectee List, or on the No Fly List.
3. Reporting Was Not Distributed to All Appropriate CIA Elements.
4. A CIA Regional Division, at CIA Headquarters, Did Not Search Databases Containing Reports Related to Abdulmutallab.
5. CIA Did Not Disseminate Key Reporting Until after the 12/25 Attempted Attack.
6. A CIA Counterterrorism Center (CTC) Office's Limited Name Search Failed to Uncover the Key Reports on Abdulmutallab.
7. CIA CTC Analysts Failed to Connect the Reporting on Abdulmutallab.
8. FBI Counterterrorism Analysts Could Not Access All Relevant Reports.
9. NCTC's Directorate of Intelligence Failed to Connect the Reporting on Abdulmutallab.
10. NCTC's Watchlisting Office Did Not Conduct Additional Research to Find Additional Derogatory Information to Place Abdulmutallab on a Watchlist.
11. NSA Did Not Pursue Potential Collection Opportunities That Could Have Provided Information on Abdulmutallab.
12. Analysts Did Not Connect Key Reports Partly Identifying Abdulmutallab and Failed to Ensure Dissemination of All Relevant Reporting.
13. NSA Did Not Nominate Abdulmutallab for Watchlisting or the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) Based on Information Partly Identifying Him.
14. Intelligence Analysts Were Primarily Focused on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Threats to U.S. Interests in Yemen, Rather than on Potential AQAP Threats to the U.S. Homeland.
Related:
http://intelligence.senate.gov
