Release of the Security Review Conducted After the Failed Christmas Terrorist Attack

7 January 2010

President Obama makes a statement regarding the security review of the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day

President Obama announced that the immediate review of the U.S. security and intelligence systems following the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day has been completed.  The President stated that, “Rather than a failure to collect or share intelligence, this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence that we already had. That’s why we took swift action in the immediate days following Christmas, including reviewing and updating the terrorist watchlist system and adding more individuals to the "no fly" list, and directing our embassies and consulates to include current visa information in their warnings of individuals with terrorist or suspected terrorist ties. Today, I’m directing a series of additional corrective steps across multiple agencies... These reforms will improve the intelligence community’s ability to collect, share, integrate, analyze, and act on intelligence swiftly and effectively... But even the best intelligence can’t identify in advance every individual who would do us harm. So we need the security — at our airports, ports, and borders, and through our partnerships with other nations — to prevent terrorists from entering America.”

• Read the President's remarks.
• Read the summary of the security review (pdf 406kb).
• Read the President's Directive on corrective actions (pdf 154kb).
• Read the transcript of this press briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Brennan, and Press Secretary Gibbs.