TOPIC: December 25th Failed Terrorist Attack - Essay Example

December 25th Failed Terrorist Attack (College December 25th Failed Terrorist Attack The Northeast Airlines Flight 253 was a passenger flight that flew from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Netherlands to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in United States on 25th December 2009, and confronted with a terror attack. The flight has got a prominent place in the US history as it recorded a failed al-Qaeda bombing attempt. It has been reported that there were 290 people in the flight and all of them survived the attack amazingly.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was an al-Qaeda agent and a flight passenger who tried to explode the aircraft using plastic explosives sewn to his underwear. However, Abdulmutallab failed to blow up the explosives and it resulted in flames and huge noises in the flight. The rapid response from flight passengers could extinguish the fire so that they could avoid a dreadful disaster. The history cannot forget Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch passenger who pacified the terrorist and handcuffed him. The pilot safely landed the plane and Abdulmutallab was handed over to the police.

The coordinated and thoughtful actions of crew and passengers played a vital role in landing the flight without causing upheaval. Anyhow, the explosion attempt injured three passengers including Abdulmutallab and Schuringa and they were hospitalized as soon as the flight landed safely. After three days later, on 28th December 2009, al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) undertook the responsibility of attack. The US judiciary took the incident very serious and indicted six criminal charges on Abdulmutallab including possession of dreadful weapons and murder attempt.

The US believes that the senior al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki has played a crucial role in planning the attack. As Shane (2010) reports, US president Barack Obama authorized the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2010. The 2009 Northeast Airlines Flight 253 attack clearly points out the failure of intelligence system. Various reports reflect that US had received an intelligence report regarding the attack by a Nigerian man but they could not properly deal with the information. Although the intelligence reports brought evidences of a planned attack, they could not detect where and when that would happen.

If the intelligence had efficiently processed the acquired information, such a troubling incident would not have happened. To illustrate, as discussed above, the plastic explosives were sewn to terrorist’s underwear; and he could enter the flight freely due to the negligence of security system. Allen (2009) reports that president Obama vehemently criticized the incident and called the intelligence failure “totally unacceptable”, and hence ordered an investigation. Officials must heed genuine attempt to design effective security measures to prevent such incidents in future.

Firstly, nation’s intelligence system must be made efficient so that it can bring valuable information that would contribute to nation’s safety. Similarly, there must be strong security clearance and documents checking systems as it would prevent illegal flight journey. Innovative devices have to be introduced to detect explosives in airports. Moreover, flight security force must be given special training so that they can immediately respond to disastrous events and take control over the situation.

References Shane, S. (April 6, 2010). “US approves targeted killing of American Cleric. Middle East”. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html Allen, N. (December 29, 2009). “Barack Obama admits ‘unacceptable systematic failure’ in Detroit plane attack”. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/6908709/Barack-Obama-admits-unacceptable-systemic-failure-in-Detroit-plane-attack.html