Why Bombing Suspect May Have Been Absent From U.S. 'No Fly' List
The Nigerian man who allegedly attempted to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day was not listed on a "no fly list" maintained by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, NEWSWEEK has learned. However, a tentative, and unconfirmed warning about the airline bombing suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (previously identified in the media as Abdul Mudallad), was entered into a database used by the government to deny or restrict U.S. entry visas to foreigners, according to two American officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing an ongoing investigation. This unconfirmed information in turn was circulated more widely among U.S. intelligence agencies, one of the officials said, although other officials could not confirm this.
The fact that Abdulmutallab was not on the U.S. government's "no fly list" would help to explain why American authorities cleared the aircraft he boarded, Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, for takeoff. As NEWSWEEK reported earlier today, Dutch authorities say their U.S. counterparts were given the passenger list for review before the flight left the gate and its departure was not approved until clearance was received from the U.S.
An American official said that standard procedure is for U.S. authorities to receive passenger lists 30 minutes before takeoff time. Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, takes the passenger lists and runs them against a database produced by the Terrorist Screening Center, an interagency unit managed by the FBI. Only if a passenger's name appears on the "no fly list" -- a subset of the Screening Center's master database of suspects -- is a flight denied takeoff clearance. From information available so far, it appears that Abdulmutallab's name appeared on neither the "no fly list" nor the master database of terrorism suspects, even though it may well have appeared on a visa-related U.S. government database. However, it is possible that the master database did include some kind of note indicating that some preliminary negative information had been received about Abdulmutallab from visa authorities, according to a different U.S. government official who has access to information on the case.
One senior U.S. official gave NEWSWEEK the following account of Abdulmutallab's visa history: U.S. government records show that in June 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for, and was granted a tourist visa, valid for two years, to enter the U.S. At the time he was a student in London, and U.S. government databases showed no traces of "derogatory" information about him, such as any information whatsoever connecting him to terrorism or Islamic extremism.
The official said that some time later, perhaps around six months ago (as reported in this news account from the Nigerian media), Abdulmutallab's father, a prominent Nigerian banker named Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, reported concerns to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that his son had become involved with religious extremists. As a result of this report, the State Department, which has responsibility for granting U.S. entry visas, notified the U.S. intelligence community, allegedly including the Terrorist Screening Center, which then allegedly opened some kind of file on Abdulmutallab, according to the senior official.
As of this week, however, no additional information apparently was received by either the State Department or any U.S. agency which would have raised the level of concerns about Abdulmutallab, according to the senior official. As a consequence, the senior official said, not only was Abdulmutallab's name not entered on the official U.S. "no fly list" but the State Department made no move to revoke his U.S. visa, which was still valid at the time he boarded Flight 253. However, the official said that a notification was added to visa records indicating that if Abdulmutallab applied for a new visa after his current one expired, some concerted effort should be made, based on the negative information which had been received, to re-evaluate whether or not a new U.S. visa should be granted.
A State Department spokesman told NEWSWEEK that the department believed that it had reported all it was supposed to report about Abdulmutallab and his father's warning "through the appropriate channels". A spokesman for the Terrorist Screening Center said his office could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Officials of the Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Saturday, Federal authorities filed criminal charges accusing Abdulmutallab of attempting to blow up Flight 253, and with placing a destructive device on board the aircraft, which he boarded at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after arriving there on a connecting flight from Lagos.
A U.S. official who also asked for anonymity told NEWSWEEK that according to early reports, the device the suspect was carrying consisted of a quantity of powder into which the man tried to inject a liquid. Instead of exploding, however, the materials caught fire and seriously burned the suspect. According to an account by the ABC News investigative team, the device consisted of a six-inch long packet full of powder and a liquid filled syringe. According to the ABC report, Abdulmutallab has already told U.S. investigators the device components were sewn into his underwear by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
A statement issued by the Justice Department following the filing of charges against Abdulmutallab included the following account of events aboard the plane: "Interviews of all of the passengers and crew of Flight 253 revealed that prior to the incident, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for approximately twenty minutes, according to the affidavit. Upon returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab stated that his stomach was upset, and he pulled a blanket over himself. Passengers then heard popping noises similar to firecrackers, smelled an odor, and some observed Abdulmutallab's pants leg and the wall of the airplane on fire. Passengers and crew then subdued Abdulmutallab and used blankets and fire extinguishers to put out the flames. Passengers reported that Abdulmutallab was calm and lucid throughout. One flight attendant asked him what he had had in his pocket, and he replied 'explosive device.'"
According to the Justice Department, a preliminary FBI analysis has concluded that the device which Abdulmutallab tried to ignite contained a high explosive known as PETN. The same material has figured in other prominent terrorism cases, including the case of Richard Reid, a petty criminal from south London who tried to bomb an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami shortly before Christmas in 2001.
U.S. officials cautioned NEWSWEEK that they are still checking out numerous reports, some of them contradictory, about Abdulmutallab's alleged connections with Al Qaeda and his alleged contacts in Yemen. Historically, according to one of the officials, Yemen has been known as a safe-haven for Qaeda fighters who have used it as a training ground and to launch attacks -- sometimes spectacular ones, such as the attack on the USS Cole Navy warship in the port of Aden in 2000, but more often low level assaults on local targets.
Over about the last 10 days, authorities in Yemen, aided by intelligence and some reported military support from the U.S., have launched a series of major raids against purported jihadists, allegedly killing dozens of militants, including local Al Qaeda leaders.
Some reports from the region claimed that Anwar al-Awlaki, an English-speaking Muslim cleric linked to some of the 9/11 hijackers and also linked to accused Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan was killed during one raid, although a US counter-terrorism official told NEWSWEEK that U.S. authorities believe al-Awlaki escaped and is still alive. According to ABC, Abdulmutallab has told investigators he made contact over the Internet with a radical mam in Yemen who then put him into contact with Qaeda operatives. ABC reported that it did not know if Abdulmutallab's initial cyberspace contact was al-Awlaki. U.S. officials cautioned NEWSWEEK against connecting too many dots prematurely.
