Obama asks for quick assessment on plane bomber

Taiwan's News.Net
Tuesday 29th December, 2009

Barack Obama spoke to the media on Tuesday about the recent air incident in which a man was able to smuggle explosives onto a Northwest Airlines jet in the US.

Speaking during his holiday break, Mr Obama said he wanted to be informed through a preliminary accounting about how it was that explosives were allowed to make it onto the Detroit-bound airliner last week.

He said: "It's essential we diagnose the problems quickly. A systemic failure has occurred."

He said a "catastrophic breach of security" must have occurred to and allow a 23-year-old Nigerian to board a plane to the United States despite warnings from the suspect's father.

The suspect, who was described by President Obama as "a known extremist," has been charged with trying to destroy the plane on Christmas Day as it approached Detroit.

Mr Obama said he wants to hear exactly what went wrong.

Have your say on this story