DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20511
January 7, 2010
The following message by
Director of National
Intelligence Dennis C.
Blair was sent to
employees of the United
States Intelligence
Community:
Colleagues:
The President has
completed his
preliminary review and
briefed the nation
regarding the
Abdulmutallab attempted
terrorist attack on
December 25. He has
directed me to lead the
Intelligence Community’s
work in improving our
procedures and systems
to detect and prevent a
similar attempt from
succeeding.
That Mr. Abdulmutallab
boarded Northwest Flight
153 for Detroit was a
failure of the
counterterrorism system.
We had strategic
intelligence that al
Qa’ida in the Arab
Peninsula
(AQAP) had the intention
of taking action against
the United States. We
did not direct more
resources against AQAP,
nor insist that the
watchlisting criteria be
adjusted. The
Intelligence
Community analysts who
were working hard on
immediate threats to
Americans in Yemen did
not
understand the fragments
of intelligence on what
turned out later to be
Mr. Abdulmutallab, so
they
did not push him onto
the “no fly” list.
We will take a fresh and
penetrating look at
strengthening both human
and technical
performance
and do what we have to
do in all areas. I have
specifically been tasked
to oversee and manage
work
in four areas:
• Assigning clear lines
of responsibility for
investigating all leads
on high-priority
threats, so
they are pursued more
aggressively;
• Distributing
intelligence reports
more quickly and widely,
especially those
suggesting
specific threats against
the U.S.;
• Applying more rigorous
standards to analytical
tradecraft to improve
intelligence integration
and action; and
• Enhancing the criteria
for adding individuals
to the terrorist
watchlist and “no fly”
watchlist.
While the December 25
attempt exposed
improvement needs and
flaws in coordination,
it did not
expose weakness in the
concepts of intelligence
reform or suggest that
its progress should be
redirected. The
Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism Prevention Act
(IRTPA) and the progress
of the
past five years will
continue to guide our
future improvements.
As the White House
review stated, “the work
by America’s
counterterrorism (CT)
community has
had many successes since
9/11 that should be
applauded… On a great
number of occasions
since
9/11, many of which the
American people will
never know about, the
tremendous, hardworking
corps of analysts across
the CT community did
just that, working day
and night to track
terrorist
threats and run down
possible leads in order
to keep their fellow
American safe.” I
strongly agree.
The review also
recognizes the barriers
to information sharing
that existed just five
years ago,
which we have worked so
hard to dismantle, have
indeed been broken down.
The job of collecting,
analyzing, and
integrating information
on a global scale is
difficult, and this
community performs that
work at high levels
every day. We will
sustain our dedication
and
professionalism to the
tasks we now face. We
will leverage this
challenge to emerge even
stronger
and more able to provide
the support to national
security that President
Obama hailed as critical
to
our future.
We will meet this
challenge. I am
confident that together
we will deliver to the
President the
improvements he has
called for.
Dennis C. Blair
