Warnings Ignored

Discussing the nation's air security system Sunday on ABC's "This Week," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that "The system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days." Who is she trying to kid?

Flight attendants and passengers, not the security system, stopped an alleged terrorist's apparent attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day. It was their watchfulness and refusal to become victims that won out, not the security measures at the airport. They deserve a lot of credit. And now there are claims that, contrary to another statement from Napolitano, the Detroit incident was indeed the result of an international terrorist plot.

Someone needs to wake up. It's true that the system has, overall, worked well in guarding passengers from terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. But there is no margin for error here. Which is why the review ordered by President Barack Obama of the nation's two major security programs — watch lists and detection equipment — is a good first step. A congressional investigation of the system also could help find answers to how the system broke down this time.

The first question that needs to be answered is why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab wasn't the subject of more intense scrutiny months ago.

The young man's father, a prominent Nigerian banker and former government official, phoned the U.S. Embassy in Abuja in October with a warning that his son had developed radical views, had disappeared and might have traveled to Yemen.

Embassy officials marked the file for a full investigation should Abdulmutallab ever reapply for a visa but did nothing to inhibit his entry into the United States. His current visa was good until June 2010. It seems that an investigation was warranted this fall.

In the meantime, Congress may want to look more closely at pending legislation that would prohibit the use of advanced checkpoint screening devices that create an image of a passenger's body so officers can see under clothing to determine if a weapon or explosive has been hidden.

Law enforcement officials say Abdulmutallab hid a condom or condom-like pouch below his torso containing PETN, the primary ingredient in detonating cords used for industrial explosions.

If such devices could prevent another incident like last week's, maybe there is a place for them in the nation's security system.

Passengers and flight crews will always need to be alert. But obvious holes still need to be closed to make the system as secure as people can make it.

That's why more urgency and a full investigation of what happened last week are necessary.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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