Lapses Allowed Suspect to Board Plane (How many other Taliban have they "lost track" of?)

ny times ^ | 5/4/2010 | Scott Shane

[tobyhill]

Why was Faisal Shahzad permitted to board a flight for Dubai some 24 hours after investigators of the Times Square terrorism case learned he might be connected to the attempted bombing?

Though Mr. Shahzad was stopped before he could fly away, there were at least two significant lapses in the security response of the government and the airline that allowed him to come close to making his escape, officials of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies said on Tuesday.

First, an F.B.I. surveillance team that had found Mr. Shahzad in Connecticut lost track of him — it is not clear for how long — before he drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the officials said. As a result, investigators did not know he was planning to fly abroad until a final passenger list was sent to officials at the federal Customs and Border Protection agency minutes before takeoff.

[9422WMR]

Oh come on now, Butch Napolatano is in charge.
Don’t you feel safe?

[BOBTHENAILER]

an F.B.I. surveillance team that had found Mr. Shahzad in Connecticut lost track of him — it is not clear for how long —

they must have stopped for prayers to Allah

[Wisconsinlady]

DHS, FBI, and customs=Keystone Cops

Inspector Clousseau couldn’t have bumbled worse.

[Cicero]

Workers at Emirates evidently did not check the list, because at 6:30 p.m., Mr. Shahzad called the airline and booked a flight to Pakistan via Dubai.

Either they didn't check the list, or someone decided to stay silent and help get a fellow Muslim out of the country.

[Freddd]

There in ‘damage control’ mode again.

He wasn’t even put on the list til AFTER the incident!!

[Freddd]

Workers at Emirates evidently did not check the list, because at 6:30 p.m., Mr. Shahzad called the airline and booked a flight to Pakistan via Dubai.
Either they didn’t check the list, or someone decided to stay silent and help get a fellow Muslim out of the country.

———————That’s just a lie....if it weren’t for Emirates contacting the U.S. the terrorist would have flown off into the sunset. Because Obama and Napalitano dropped the ball, despite the media lies.

[tobyhill]

Until the Feds figure out who the enemy is, Islam, then they will keep losing or not know who these terrorist are.

[Army Air Corps]

Well, there isn’t any terrorism anymore because The One has healed our relations with the world. Napolitano is keeping an eye on those bloodthirsty bastards in the Tea Party movement.

[mgstarr]

I don’t know why this is a surprise to anyone.

The best and brightest DO NOT go to work for the government.

Those who want cushy hours, bloated pensions, and no accountability do.

[Skip Ripley]

Look...the Federal Government can’t track allll of these international terrorists. They have to devote a substantial number of man hours and resources to keeping an eye on those tea party crackpots.

Terrorists might blow up some stuff and kill a few thousand Americans, but those anti government lunatics might gain enough influence to actually limit the growth of government...they could some day even SHRINK the government.

That is a tragedy that must be averted...no matter what the human cost may be...

[tobyhill]

Exactly! If a citizen of less than a year and then spending 5 months in Pakistan doesn’t lead to some sort of suspicion then I have no idea what would?

[K-oneTexas]

Lapses? I seem to remember ‘lapses’ with the Shoe Bomber. And ‘lapses’ with the Underwear Bomber. Others come to mind too.

Napolatano is as bad or worse as Janet Reno or Jamie Gorelick before her.

[mgstarr]

[kingu]

Generally, no fly list checking is required for flights TO the United States, or domestic flights, but if the destination is a foreign city, then it is an optional step that airlines may take. A lot of airlines won't bother, however, as there are a lot of false positives on the no fly list, and why cause passengers undue hardship when it isn't required?

This is a huge hole that really needs to be plugged, as the entire exercise in the no-fly lists is to keep those who are suspected of having terrorist ties OUT of airplanes.

[verum ago]

Well, Homewand Secuwity most be stretched pretty thin, seeing as they have to keep track of so many Tea Party extremists.

[mlocher]

One long-planned change in security procedures may reduce the chances of a repeat failure to check an updated no-fly list, officials said. The Transportation Security Administration is taking over the job of checking passenger manifests against the no-fly list under its Secure Flight program.

Seems like a reasonable change. Why did it take so long? Under whose watch was this change not made more quickly?

[mlocher]

The best and brightest DO NOT go to work for the government.

This may be true of the paper pushers, regulators and beaurocrats. I take exception, however, to this generalization. The lower level FBI and CIA agents do a stellar job and I have nothing but respect for the armed forces. There are people that live their principles -- but the beaurocrats and politicians screw things up.

[tobyhill]

The only hole here is that this administration have no idea what they're doing.
All I heard for 7 years under Bush was how he made us “less safe” but Obama has had more terrorist attacks in the US on his watch than Bush had in 8 years.

[353FMG]

Most likely scenario.