Rep. Courtney Responds To President's Statement On Christmas Day Terrorist Attempt And Subsequent Security Reviews

Statement

Congressman Joe Courtney responded to President Obama's statement today during which new security measures were announced following the Christmas Day terrorist attempt and the subsequent White House intelligence reviews:

"I stand with my constituents in remaining deeply concerned about the events leading up to the Christmas Day terrorist attempt in Detroit. The hard truth remains that this clear failure to understand and act on critical information our intelligence community had it its hands nearly resulted in another tragedy. If implemented correctly, a cohesive intelligence effort would have painted a coherent picture of the threat posed by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Unacceptably, the system for preventing terrorist attempts did not work despite "red flags" across the board, resulting in this terrorist boarding a plane with explosives. Our nation must do better."

"With the completion of the President's review of the events leading up to the attempted terrorist attack, it is important now that the Obama Administration, Congress and the intelligence community work together to address the flaws in our intelligence sharing and screening processes. Efforts in recent days to increase security screening at airports and strengthening our terrorist watch lists are important first steps -- however, it is clear from the President's statement today that there is much more work ahead in ensuring that this never happens again. I will continue to work to ensure that our security agencies and intelligence community have the tools and resources they need to protect the American people."

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