welcome. >> is the boasting all over in detroit now? >> well, it's definitely a more subdued atmosphere, gwen. i remember auto shows when there were jeeps crashing through plate glass windows and mini-vans dropping from the ceiling and lots of dancers and pretty girls and pretty guys too. but this year it was deaf tonightly a lower-key atmosphere, probably fitting. >> ifill: the volkswagen dancers didn't do it for you, i'm think something. >> well. >> ifill: has the culture changed forever in detroit now? >> everybody here is getting their arms around the idea that they'll never be as big as they once were. it's really easy to see if you just look at the car sales figures. as the report said, we sold about 10 million vehicles in the united states. last year. people think we'll sell about 11 million this year, 11.5 million. about five years ago the industry sold 17 million vehicles. so it's down 40%. you look at all the factories that have closed all the people who have lost their jobs, the grants that have... the brands that have gone a

detroit is mostly. it's the place that makes the cars that become kind of a relevant at a time when gas prices are extremely high. there are many arab auto workers working in a auto factory. they are sort of feeling it again i'm not just as detroiters and dearborn is, but arab-americans are stealing it any differently because that kind of come to be blamed for this crisis that supposedly but not realistically started because of the embargo. this chapter is called to send. this event is significant to guess you sort of start to see a maturity and an awakening and the community and you see them very different and 73 that after the 67 mideast war and much more willing and able to engage. i'm going to come back and read from this chapter. the reason i chose him as a character, is because you sort of see him in 67 in the opening, which i'm going to read from, as also younger and less mature and i'm going to read from the chapter since you all know the more mature version. let you see how that evolution happe

today the suspect stood before a federal judge in detroit. he entered a not guilty plea an the suspect's behalf. the judge also asked the man whether he understood the charges he faced. his one word reply, yes. protesters outside, a lot more vocal. >> we're going to let the terrorists know that you want us, we're here, we're on camera, you want to kill us? there is the bull's eye right here. come kill us because we're americans and we're muslims and we're against you. >> local muslims speaking out against this activity. some of the protesters waving american flags as they stood in the street outside the courthouse. demonstrated against the suspect accused of trying to send hundreds of people to a firey death. team fox coverage, major garrett at the white house. a terror plot targeting new york city. a separate incident. katherine on the problems raised when the military targets al-qaeda who is an american citizen. steve? >> we did learn a little more about umar farouk abdulmutallab. what we did learn was during the questioning that the magist

he watched detroit for an instant from his family's front porch on the south and. the poorest neighborhood of dearborn with three square miles of modest homes stood hidden in the shadow of the plant and its big rising smokestacks. this madness might be new but for allen this had been hitting the fan for a while now. it had all started when the government took his older brother and send him to vietnam even though raviv still needed one more surgery to fix the hand he shattered working in the factory for four. allen was left living every day with a thought where the hell is he at? but before ronnie had gotten screwed by the government, al lynn plant to boost his own draft as soon as he graduated high school of 1965. their uncle served air force and army and allen was proud of them. he truly believed in the united states fought in a war was on the side of good. after all, the country fought fascism in world war ii after only despicable sneak attacks by turtle officious and evil enemies. now we were under attack by new enemies, and if we didn't all fight the economy is

magazine, that's blac detroit magazine, as an independent publication in detroit run by a fairly young woman, that a number of us on campus have been supporting respond pitching in here and there. i've been waiting for this book for a while now. well, month that jonathan was slow, but postally because -- because of the intersection between it and my own struggle to understand the political life of james meredith, who went from being a major icon of theself rights movement for successfully desegregating the university of mississippi in 1962, to serving on the staff of conservative north carolina senator jesse helms and campaigning in the early 1990's david duke, actions that got him labeled crazy in both time periods. no sane black person in narrative goes would ever tried to enroll at old miss unless he was crazy and in fact, the man who tried a few years before james meredith was committed to the state asylum for his actions. so the idea of a protest psychosis is certainly one of interest to me as a scholar. it's also interesting because i grew up in and have done work on detroit, esp

he is accused of trying to bring down an airplane landing in detroit with an explosive device that failed to detonate. >> the investigation into the christmas day incident continues. we're learning more about the suspect. we know that he traveled to yemyes, ma' ma'am -- yemen. it appears he joined an facility of al qaeda, this group in the arabian peninsula trained him and equipped him with explosives and trained him for attack for america. this is not the first time this group has targeted us. in recent years they bombed yemeni facilities and restaurants and hotels, restaurants and embassies, including our embassy in 2008 killing one american. as president, i made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the yemeni government, strengthening and equipping their facilities to streng strengthen against al qaeda terrorists. >>> minority leader mitch mcconnell delivered and up bebe outlook for the new year, says despite serious challenges he has no doubt american people will see better days. >> two long and difficult wars, a prolonged recession, double digit unemployment, these are di

president obama is blaming an affiliate of al qaeda for an attempted terror attack on a flight to detroit on christmas day. in his weekly radio address, the president said the group, al qaeda in the airborrabian penin. >> the investigation into the christmas day incident continues and we're learning more about the suspect. we know that he traveled to yemen, a country grappling with poverty and insurgenties. it appears he joined an affiliate of al qaeda and this group in the arabian pensual yea trained him and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. this is not the first time this group targeted us. in recent years they bombed yemeni government facilities, restaurants and embassies including our embassy in 2008, killing one american. so as president, i've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al qaeda terrorists. >> in his party's weekly address, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell delivered an upbeat look for the new year. mcconnell say

the suspect in the bombing over detroit was able to pass through security despite carrying an explosive powder. it could have been picked up by a high tech scanner. some say they see too much and can violate a passenger's privacy. >> reporter: in an off building some of the advanced scanning machines in the country are made. rapid scan makes a low level x-ray machine that provides a two-dimensional image of the company. >> we believe that this is the best technology to go along with the metal detectors and the baggage screeners already out there. >> reporter: i tested it to find out why. at first it scans the front of my body and the brack. for privacy i hold a thick stack of paper in the process. within seconds the image appears on a computer. it clearly detects the paper and my microphone. >> any normal detector would detect this knife but not this liquid. >> this picks up liquids and other threats that are concealed under your clothing. >> i tried that out as well. the machine detects both the knife and the liquid and we learn how a tsa agent would highlight those threats in a separa

this was allowing him to board the plane to detroit. the u.s. government had the information for the system, to potentially uncovered the plot and disrupt the attack. rather than a failure to collect or share intelligence, this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence that we already had. that is why we took swift action in the days following christmas, reviewing and updating the system and adding more individuals to the list. and directing the indices to include current information in their warnings for individuals with terrorist connections. i am directing a series of steps across multiple agencies. broadly speaking, these fall into four areas. i am directing that the intelligence community will begin to assign specific responsibility for all leads on the high-priority bretz, and these leads will be acted upon aggressively. not just most of the time, but all the time. we must follow the leads that we get. and we must pursue them until the plots are disrupted. and that means assigning clear lines of responsibility. i am directin

>>> president obama says the christmas day attack aboard an airliner bound for detroit has been lynched to a group with ties to al qaeda. he says the group has carried out other attacks in other places. >>> this man, a school official, was killed on a trip to mexico. what police and his family say about the attack. and this. >>> living in a time of people reconnecting on facebook and my space and that sort of thing, but actually coming together physically for something that was really a special memory. >> they're adults now, but 20 years ago they were third graders who made a pledge with their teacher. how they took a break from their new year's plans for a special reunion. welcome to hln on this saturday, january 2nd, 2010, the first weekend of the new year. hope you're having a great one. >>> washington police are investigating an incident between two nba players who reportedly drew guns on one another in a locker room standoff. joe carter is here with this bizarre story. >> good morning, susan. >>> the new york post is reporting that two washington wizard players, gil ert arenas and

ray suarez talks to paul egan of "the detroit news." >> woodruff: we look at the state of u.s. intelligence after the botched attempt to blow up an airliner. >> we find those and put them together. much easier to -- >> lehrer: paul solman reports on why small businesses aren't increasing their hiring. >> woodruff: plus, the weekly analysis of mark shields and david brooks. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> lehrer: more americans losing jobs, and even more giving up hope of finding them. that was the gist of december's unemployment report. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the labor department numbers today fell well short of hopes in some quarters that the economy might have added workers at the end of 2009. instead, 85,000 americans lost their jobs last month, led again by hits in the construction and manufacturing sectors. the unemployment rate held steady at 10%, but that's because more than 660,000 people gave up looking for work. president obama cited the numbers this afternoon, as he announc

umar farouk abdulmutallab appeared in court in detroit yesterday. it lasted about four minutes, the hearing. he is facing six federal charges including an attempt to blow up a plane and an attempt to use weapons of mass destruction. that charge could get him life in prison if he's convicted. his defense didn't challenge the government's request to keep him in pretrial custody. his next court date has not been set yet. >>> it appears some muslims wanted to make a case that this case has nothing to do with their faith. about 50 of them held a rally outside the courthouse in downtown detroit. they tried to show that terrorists don't represent islam. they chanted "we are americans" and held a banner saying "not in the name of islam." islam is home to a large muslim community. as mary snow reports, many think it was about time to say something like this. >> reporter: inside a tiny mosque in detroit, this man leads fellow nigerian muslims in prayer, a break from what what he describes as the shocking news that umar farouk abdulmutallab, a nigerian and mus

steve rand is at the they're detroit. one of the big questions is will the government offer him a plea deal to try to get information out of him. >> well, that is what the white house national security adviser, john brennan, has been saying, that that would be, in fact, the case. there are published reports in the associated press and other outlets by the local federal prosecutor, chief federal prosecutor, barbara boyd, that that hasn't happened yet. one additional note, we understand that abdulmutallab is inside the federal courthouse at this hour. a few minutes ago a van came up into the facility, and we understand that he was on board. we are working to confirm that but we understand that he is inside at this hour. jane: steve, there's a brand new u.s. attorney, federal prosecutor there, she obviously is going to be under an amazing amount of scrutiny because this case is going to be tried in civilian court. i know she's been asked, is she ready. >> she appears to. she did a round robin with a bunch of inter -- a bunch

a lot of people are already saying that this fellow, this detroit fellow who was arrested on the detroit flight should not have been charged in a civilian court and given a lawyer. he should have been designated a military combatant and left in the hands of the military. so they could interrogate him. >> i would agree with that statement. i mean i think what the president now needs to do is the president, i think, came out last week finally said we are at war with al qaeda. recognized that. i think he has a better understanding of the threat and an appreciation for the threat that we face. not only should we now consistently charge these folks in the military court but i think the bigger issue and the senator was talking about that, what signs are missed but i think the big signs that were missed were the ones that happened and came out of fort hood. out of fort hood we identified the american-born radical cleric in yemen. after fort hood, what did we as an intelligence and a military community do to try to find this guy either arrest him or potentially kill him. remember he has the prot

and when you see as we witnessed a day in detroit half the people in detroit are unemployed. the african-american community in certain parts of the country, they believe it is more like a depression, not a recession. so there is growing frustration to not just to put pressure on president obama, but also the democratic controlled congress to keep the promises, to keep the pressure on the great jobs. that's why the house yesterday passed $150 million jobs bill. the congressional black caucus pushed for that in their letter to the president and the democratic leaders to say we expect to hold you accountable the same way they held bill clinton accountable and tried to hold george w. bush accountable as well. >> wolf, here is -- >> roland, go ahead. explain. but what else do you want or do these disappointed african-americans, what else do they want him to do? >> well, i'll give you an example. when the president talked two weeks ago to gannett news service that he thought it would be a mistake to have a targeted economic plan for african-americans, i would say go back and read t

correspondent steve brown has the story from detroit. in his first court appearance, umar farouk abdulmutallab through his attorney pled not guilty to all six counts in the federal indictment charging him with attempting to detonate a bomb concealed in his underwear aboard northwest flight 253. wearing a white t-shirt and olive pants, the nigerian national spoke softly as he confirmed he was not challenging being held without bond. standing with abdulmutallab, miriam ceiver, one of three public dependers with strong reputations. >> i would describe them as the a-plus team. they are extraordinary lawyers, individually and, and they will be extraordinary defense team as a group. >> bret: although it was thought that abdulmutallab's father would be at the arraignment, he was not. >> let him through. let him through. >> bret: instead, on hand was one person from the nigerian embassies and attorneys representing the defendant's family. outside the courthouse, a group of muslim american passionately denounced terrorism done in the name of isla

he got arrested here in detroit just a month ago for breaking her nose. >> oh, my god! wow! position of a family member after that going, wow, i wish we could have done something. i'd just feel a little helpless and i'm sure you do too. how could you not. >> at that time we really begged her not to go back to him. and we had a hard time believing that she would actually go back to see him again. >> is he cooperating in any way? has anyone in the family heard from him? >> no. he's got a lawyer and we don't hear anything. >> well, what a horrible thing to find your little one there -- my god. i can't even imagine. good luck to you and your family. i hope you find justice hear and some peace down the road. >> thank you. >> all right. man. visit www.foxnews.com for the latest on this story. there's a lot more to this and they have broken the news in this case really. moments before murder. you see it there at www.foxnews.com. surf around. there's a lot of other interesting stuff if you're following the story. u.s. military reportedly stepping up attacks on the pakistan afghanist

cnn, detroit, michigan. >> we will continue our coverage of this story live from detroit from that courthouse in the top of next hour. >>> abdulmutallab disappeared in yemen for more than two months before boarding that plane. and paula newton is in yemen's capital. what do we know, in fact, about abdulmutallab and what he was doing there? >> reporter: well, the main problem here is no one even knew he was in the country. so now yemenese officials have to retrace their steps for more than two months. a country that's known to have more than several hundred al qaeda operatives. they want to know where he was and what he was doing while in this country and how it relates to flight 253. we did try and retrace some of his steps. some people speculate that he might have gravitated towards a university right here in the capital. take a look. umar farouk abdulmutallab disappeared somewhere in yemen for more than two months just before the christmas day attack. investigators want to know did he heed the call to prayer coming from the hills above yemen's capital? the prayers at the university. the isl

aside from the fact nobody spot add guy who paid $3,000 cash for one way ticket to detroit, carried no luggage and walked into an airport with explosives in his underpants, aside from that we have a major lapse in our intelligence eight years after 9/11. evan how did that happen? >> inconceivable after all this money spent, the national terror center couldn't connect the dots. i mean, most americans are used to google and twitter. and myriad of i was to connect the dots. isn't there any program that connects the dots for the federal government? >> good question. colby. >> this is really hard. i've worked in em bass says and i've had walk ins to talk to give us information. in this case you have a very prominent nigerian, chairman of the first bank into the american embassy, speaking with the c.i.a. representative and the state department representative and telling them about his son becoming radicalized and living in yemen. at that point the state department had the ability to determine that this individual had a visa. they have a cons lar section right there in the embassy. if they di

detroit. plane plot which he's described as a wakeup call right here on the downing street website gordon brown says the u.k. will move quickly in its fight against terror a full body scanners will now be considered as part of the new measure. the new decade is starting as the last began with al qaeda. creating a climate of fear that right. the prime minister is why they could be no complacency in dealing with the failed detroit attack he says the national terrorism. very great country. title from a tional perspective. terrorists to stop them movement and procedures. now being carried out to look. port in the next few days. new physical security measures. also seem inevitable rumor for root abdulmutallab. explosives went undetected through dutch and nigerian airports. and gordon brown says new techniques will be examined in cooperation with america including full body x. ray scanners. the prime minister also says the country can't rely on a fortress britain strategy alone. and urged people to

that was responsible for the attack over detroit. the fighting instant -- and instability make it easier for the east african network. al-shabaab is controlling more territory and launching more attacks. war lordism is attracting somalis living in the united states. another affiliate remains the most active in the region and will continue to pose a significant threat to american interests throughout the region as well as throughout the continent of europe itself. in southeast asia, close cooperation with partners in their region, especially indonesia, has resulted in the arrest and deaths of hundreds of operatives. and what's capabilities have been badly damaged, this

understand that's the same thing with the attack in detroit. some folks have said this is a failed attack because the plane didn't go done. that's from a western perspective. from the perspective of the primary audience, i think, which is muslims that al qaeda is attempting to recruit and reach out to, they show determination, continued capability to come close, and a reason to keep fighting. and when we think about it that way, these sorts of things are successful. i think abu yahya communicates with those groups very well. the last thing -- and i think abu yahya is powerful, is two things. one, he's often quoted by the affiliate organization. he clears seems very important to aqim, quotes him quite a bit. they quoted him in somalia. they use him. he is clearly influential in those groups. and because of his background and the presence of the media which was closely associated with the taliban than al qaeda,

linked group there and was trained, equipped with bomb components and sent to blow up the amsterdam to detroit flight on christmas day. yemen in response has said hundreds of troops to two

on christmas day, the skies above detroit became a battleground in the war on terrorism.hat day, the bomb being carried by abdul mutallab failed to detonate, thanks to the courageous action of the passengers and crew. nearly 300 lives were saved on the plane, and more lives were scared on the ground. -- worst bear on the ground. the government security system failed long before abdul mutallab boarded his flight to the united states. it failed when his visa was not revoked, even though his father had warned our embassy in nigeria about his son's ties to islamic extremists. it failed when the intelligence community was unable to connect the dots that would have placed abdul mutallab on the terrorist watch list. it failed when this terrorist stepped onto the plane in amsterdam with the same explosives used by the shoe bomber, richard reid, or than eight years ago. but today i want to discuss another failure, a failure that occurred after abdul mutallab had already been detained by authorities in the troy, an error that undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelli

we have the latest information on that attempt to blow up the airliner over detroit. msnbc sunday. show and tell... with all the pet hair in the air my eyes would really itch. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. no other allergy itchy eye drop works faster or longer. zyrtec® itchy eye drops work fast i can love the air™. (announcer) find it in the allergy aisle. ♪ (announcer) right now, all over the country, discover customers are getting five percent cashback bonus on travel. it pays to get more, it pays to discover. >>> new developments in yemen today where al qaeda is said to have recruited and armed the so called underwear bomber. the u.s. embassy is closed in yemen because of an active threat from al qaeda. >>> president obama set to return to washington tomorrow ahead of a tuesday meeting with top security officials on the series of failures that allowed the bomb suspect to board a plane armed with explosives. for more now on who will be held accountable for the breach, we've joined by eleanor clift, contributing editor for "newsweek" magazine, karen hun

umar farouk abdulmutallab is already in downtown detroit. his arrangement expected to get underway less than one hour from now. steve brown is outside the courthouse. the deputy national security adviser john brennan said sunday there would be a plea deal ordered. has a plea bargain been offered in this case? >> well, if it has, we're not aware of it. the chief prosecutor, the new chief prosecutor here for the federal government, barbara wade, said not yet to the associated press and a number of other local media outlets. we asked again today about any kind of plea deal that maybe in the offing, and her office said, we cannot comment at this particular time. it is important to note that abdulmutallab is inside the federal courthouse and has been since before 11:00 this morning, presumably having meetings with his defense team. trace: yeah. and there are muslim-americans, steve, demonstrating against alabama lab. >> yeah. a sizable group, and they're really a passionate group of muslim-americans that wanted to come out here on this particular

while the person involved in the detroit incident was refused a visa and was not on a watch list, and was on our watch list, we are reviewing and enhancing our watch list arrangements and given the changing security nature, i'll ask the cabinet security that any lessons learned from recent events should be considered and whether we can further and better coordinate and intergrate the work of the intelligence services and the service that is available to us from them. >> mr. david cameron. >> thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to the seven british servicemen who lost their lives since the last prime minister's questions. private robert hays, david watson, rifleman aiden howe, tommy brown, and christopher rooney and michael richard and michael holmby and we must look after their families. i also join the prime minister in paying tribute to david taylor and his contribution to public service. we too send our condolences to his wife and children. he was diligent, decent, and determined. as one obituary put it, a thought brilliantly he was th

the detroit bombing could have been the most devastating terrorist attack on the u.s. since 9/11 if the explosive had gone off. it's time to take a fresh look to fix and build up the reforms so we learn from our mistakes. >> there has been an al qaeda surge. let me ask you, congresswoman harmon. the violence out of these plots coming out of released detainees from guantanamo bay. would you say the time has come, at least temporarily, to stop the release of prisoners from guantanamo bay to yemen? >> i was there three times to guantanamo bay. i'm planning a visit soon. i believe the prison should close. i also believe we should review again where we're going send the detainees. i think it's a bad time to send the 90 or so yemenis back to yemen. i support the plan to open a prison in illinois. we do a good job of keeping terrorists behind bars in the supermax prison in colorado. we have to apply the rule of law to those we detain both abroad and in america. i think the al qaeda threat is different from what it was on 9/11. i think it is extremely strong, especially in yem

at follows our look at the arraignment of umar farouk abdulmutallab in detroit tay. the 23-year-old nigerian is arged with trying to blow up detroit-bound rliner on christmas day. to fill us in on the events and outse the courtroom is paul egan, who covers fedel cour for "the detroit news." he talked to rayuarez late this afternoon. >> suarez:aul egan, welcome, whawas abdulmallab eventually charged with, whatre the multipleounts? >> well, the mt serious count is attempted use oa weapon of ss destruction. that's a charge that cries a maxim penalty of life in prison. he's also charged with attempted murder and attempng to blow up an airplane, taking a destructive devi upon an airplane, and two cots of using destructive devi to helcommit a felony. >> suaz: and how did he plead and dihe enter that plea on his own or wast done by his lawyer? >> he stood muteoday. anwhat normally happens at an arraignmentappened today. the judge ented a not guilty plea on his behalf . >> suarez: this is a yng mawho has only beeseen in old phographs nce his arrest. descri for us his appeara

that is what he marched with the white autoworker in detroit.he linked arms with the mexican farm workers in california. he united people of all colors in the noble quest for freedom. of course, king overcame in other ways as well. he remained strategically focused on gaining ground. his eyes were on the price cost of like an understanding that change would not be easy, understanding that change would not come overnight, understanding there would be setbacks, false starts along the way of understanding, as he said, in 1956, that we can walk and never get weary because we know that the great camp meeting in the promised land of freedom and justice. and it's because the moses generation overcame and the trials we face today are very different from the ones that test of us in previous generations. even after the worst recession in generations, like america is not even close to being as brutal as it was back then for so many. that is the legacy of dr. king and his movement. that is our inheritance. having said that, let there be no doubt, the challe

airliner approaching detroit.incident occurred just hours after the first family departed for hawaii, to celebrate the holidays with family. instead, most of mr. obama's time was spent in briefings, and secure conference calls. and each day, details emerged on the nigerian suspect and the u.s. government's failure to prevent the attack. in two statements to the american public, the president labeled it a "a systemic failure" and launched a full review. yesterday, back in the white house, he met with his national security team. he said it's his responsibility to find out why the system failed and to fix it. today, white house press secretary robert gibbs offered this, by way of context. >> the president has taken actions to deal with a whole set of crises that he had when he came in. he understands that. he had to make a lot of tough decisions that may or may not be political popular because that was what he was faced with. but again, he-- that's why he ran for the job. >> lehrer: now, three perspectives on preside

-- flight 253 to detroit.h which resulted in a fire. he was subdued by flight crew and passengers. remains in custody in the u.s. -- many countries are doing everything they can to piece together his movements shortly before this attack and are considering what urgent steps need to be taken to prevent further attacks of this nature. it is an issue of grave concern at that the explosive device was not detected by security in nigeria or in the netherlands. as has been widely reported, he attended university college london between 2005 and 2008, where he completed a degree in engineering. during this time, he was known to the security service but not as somebody engaged in violent extremism. his family and friends have stated their belief that he turned to this during his time in yemen. from the information we have currently, it is not possible to chart with absolute certainty his exact movements after he left the u.k. 14 months ago. he is known to of spent several months studying international business at the un

he was allowed to board the plane in amsterdam for detroit. while the watch list system was not broken, help the intelligence community needs information into the system needs to be strengthened. how do we fix the problem? today the president is issuing a directive to all agencies on the corrective actions he has decided on. there are more than a dozen corrective steps altogether, each assigned to an agency that is responsible for its implementation. he is directing that our intelligence community immediately begin assigning responsibility for investigating all leads on a high priority threats so that they are pursued and acted upon aggressively and that plots are disrupted. he is directing that we strengthen the analytic process. director of national intelligence blair will take the lead in improving day-to-day efforts. there will identify and analyze intelligence among the vast universe of intelligence we collect. that challenge, dealing with volumes of information, is growing every day. the president is ordering an immediate effort to stren

kind of human and systemic failures that almost led to a christmas catastrophe in the skies over detroit. >> they should all be in the hot seat. this is ludicrous. i think there should be some action taken to correct this. there was a lack of accountability in the system. >> reporter: and late this afternoon, a warning from a top counterterrorism official -- al qaeda continue to redefine their methods to test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland. on the case of republican charges that mr. obama has deemphasized fighting terror, today the president hit back. >> of all of the partners we disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains and lifted major losses on al qaeda leadership, thwarted plots here in the united states and saved countless american lives. >> reporter: and, lester, we're told that today the government of yemen is stepping up efforts to combat the insurgency within its borders. and to that end, america's top general was this weekend in the region in yemen, as a matter of fact, consulting with top officials there about the fight against al qaeda. leste

ordered a full briefing on what went wrong in response to the attempted bombing of a flight headed for detroit. john cochran has the latest. >> president obama is holding al qaeda directly responsible for the botched bombing aboard a detroit-bound flight on christmas day, saying that umar farouk abdulmutallab was involved. >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula train him with the explosives and directed him to attack that airplane heading toward america. >> the administration has faced increasing scrutiny of the past week as more information about the suspect has come out, including why the agencies in charge of preventing terrorist attacks appeared to be caught by surprise. as a result, the president has called for agencies to share information more readily. after he returns from vacation, he plans to meet with intelligence and homeland security officials to try to resolve the current problems. >> i will do everything in my power to make sure our hard- working men and women in intelligence, not law enforcement, homeland security have the tools and resources they need. >> some experts believe th

tonight, new information on the attempted attack on an airliner bound for detroit. as the president lays out the strongest connection yet between the suspect and a known terror group. >> gregg: it appears that he joined an affiliate of al-qaeda and that this group, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula trained him, equipped him with the explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. >> julie: ahead, more on the attempt connection to yemen and what that country is doing to hunt down extremists. plus, it was the year of bernie madoff. >> everybody in my life has been demolished. >> a loss of investor confidence. >> your warranty will be safe. it will be safer than it's ever been. >> julie: bail-out for the auto industry. tonight, some of the biggest financial stories of 2009 and their impact on the year ahead and your wallet. but we start with the latest from president obama, who for the very first time is directly linking al-qaeda to the failed christmas day attack on a u.s. airliner. in his weekly address, the president said it appears 23-year-old

although the person who was involved in the detroit incident was refused a visa and was on our watchlist, we are nevertheless reviewing and enhancing our watch list arrangements, and given the changing nature of security, i have asked the cabinet secretary to ensure that any lessons that can be learned from recent events are considered and to examine whether we can further co-ordinate and integrate the work of the intelligence services and better make that work available to us. >> mr. david cameron. >> may i join the prime minister in paying tribute to the seven british servicemen who have lost their lives since the last prime minister's questions? they were private robert hayes, sapper david watson, rifleman aidan howell, lance corporal tommy brown, lance corporal christopher roney, lance corporal michael pritchard and corporal simon hornby. they died serving our country, and we must always honour their memory and look after their families. i also join the prime minister in paying tribute to david taylor and his contribution to public service. we, too, send our condolences to his wi

the kind of human and systemic failures that almost led to añju)áuspj catastrophe in the skies over detroitey should all be in the hot seat. i mean, this is ludicrous. i think there should be some action taken to correct this. there was a lack of accountability in the system. >> reporter: and late this afternoon, a warning from a top counterterrorism official. al qaeda continued to refine their methods to test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland. in the face of republican charges that mr. obama has de-emphasized fightingxd terror the president hit back. >> along with our partners, we've disrupted terrorists' financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the united states, and saved countless american lives. >> and that was mike viqueira reporting. >>> some scary moments for passengers on board an air berlin flight. it skidded off the runway at an airport in western germany today. the pilot tried to abort a takeoff because of a technical problem. the plane braked, but slid right off the runway because of snowy cond

-- flight 253 to detroit.h resulted in a fire. he was subdued by flight crew and passengers. remains in custody in the u.s. -- many countries are doing everything they can to piece together his movements shortly before this attack and are considering what urgent steps need to be taken to prevent further attacks of this nature. it is an issue of grave concern at that the explosive device was not detected by security in nigeria or in the netherlands. as has been widely reported, he attended university college london between 2005 and 2008, where he completed a degree in engineering. during this time, he was known to the security service but not as somebody engaged in violent extremism. his family and friends have stated their belief that he turned to this during his time in yemen. from the information we have currently, it is not possible to chart with absolute certainty his exact movements after he left the u.k. 14 months ago. he is known to of spent several months studying international business at the universi

on december 16th, abdulmutallab pays more than $2,000 cash for a one-way ticket to detroit. on-line video warning of a message from al qaeda saying we are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of god. again, all this directly from the new yo"new york daily news." it seems pretty straightforward when it's laid out that way. >> yes. but unfortunately it wasn't all laid out inside the national counterterrorism center which was, david, as you know, created after the 9/11 attack, years after, on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, as a clearinghouse, where all the intelligence from around the government would all come to one place, analysts would look at it and they would take action, they would authorize further investigation. what i find incredible here is that the embassy in nigeria has claimed that the state department has claimed the embassy in nigeria wasn't aware this young man had a multiple entry u.s. visa which he has used which was active at the time that his father came in november. and they didn't know that. it had been issued -- because they said it was issued

yesterday he was here at the federal court in detroit. he entered the courtroom very slowly surrounded by u.s. marshals. he was walking with some difficulty. the alleged suicide bomber had suffered second- and third-degree wounds self-inflicted after detonating that device on board the plane. now, his feet were shackled. he appeared thin, almost frail. his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty for the 23-year-old nigerian grad student. the judge asked whether he'd taken any medications within the last 24 hours. he did reply that, yes, he was taking pain medication. his lawyer says despite that he does understand the charges against him. those include attempting to destroy that u.s. jetliner and kill all 290 people on board the plane. now, the hearing took just a couple of minutes. when it was over again he was l led out of that courtroom surrounded by u.s. marshals. his lawyer did not fight the detention, although the judge said she does have the option to revisit it at a later date. abdulmutallab's long journey from ghana and yemen, nigeri

the failed terror attempt on a flight to detroit raised new concerns about the response to the threat. >> when the president returns from why, he will come back to questions about who's to blame for the terrorist near miss on an airliner over detroit. even more questions about what is being done to keep the nation safe. >> the christmas day terror attempt is bringing flashbacks to post-911 for stations. -- post-9/11 frustrations. > the problem is the systems are not in place to connect the dots. this is the part of the transformation need to see in the intelligence community. >> there was no single smoking gun, if you will that said he was going to carry out this attack. >> along with intelligence gathering, airport security is under scrutiny. pliticians are calling for change. >> it is unacceptable that nine years or eight years after richard reid use the exact same explosive that we still do not have a system in place that can detect that kind of explosive. >> it is time to take a fresh, non-partisan look, not knock down the department of homeland's security, but to fix them and bui

at the university of medicine in detroit, they could push your rule restriction that's could providetion for concussions. >>> and regis philbin returns to his show after recouperating from hip surgery. >>> coming up on "good morning america," the top five tips to jump start your finances in the new year. mellodlody hobson has ways to c your spending. >>> that's coming up. for some of you your local news is next. for all the rest of you, "america this morning" continues after this. (jennifer garner) there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there's one that's so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin's natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that neutrogena® cosmetics recommend most by dermatologists. and i was so tender o the touch-- but i didn't know why. my doctor diagnosed it a fibromyalgia. and then he ecommended lyrica... fibromyalgia is though .to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, wid

he appeared before a judge in detroit on friday. >>> outside that courthouse, about 50 detroit area muslimsdenounce terrorism. they chanted we are americans and carried u.s. flags and signs with messages such as not in the name of islam. >>> new this morning, pakistani television station is airing a video of a man it claims is the double agent who killed cia agents in afghanistan. al jazeera says this footage shows human abu balawi delivering a message to jihadists. jim maceda joins us me from kabul, afghanistan. good evening, your time. let's get to the significance of this tape. let's talk about it. >> reporter: right, well, it is very significant indeed if it is real. i think i have to stress yet again that we're saying this is allegedly al balawi, we haven't independently confirmed that yet. you see on the tape, as you say, a man standing next to the current leader of the pakistani taliban that is hakimullah mehsoud. the fact they're together would suggest the pakistani taliban claim of responsibility in the -- in the actual incident. al balawi speaking in arabic at one point in that 90

-- flight 253 to detroit.ed in a fire. he was subdued by flight crew and passengers. remains in custody in the u.s. -- many countries are doing everything they can to piece together his movements shortly before this attack and are considering what urgent steps need to be taken to prevent further attacks of this nature. it is an issue of grave concern at that the explosive device was not detected by security in nigeria or in the netherlands. as has been widely reported, he attended university college london between 2005 and 2008, where he completed a degree in engineering. during this time, he was known to the security service but not as somebody engaged in violent extremism. his family and friends have stated their belief that he turned to this during his time in yemen. from the information we have currently, it is not possible to chart with absolute certainty his exact movements after he left the u.k. 14 months ago. he is known to of spent several months studying international business at the university and d