The CIA has folied a new Al Qaeda plot to use a new version of an underwear bomb to blow up an American airline:
The CIA thwarted a plot by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design, a U.S. counter-terrorism official tells CBS News. Officials, however, deny there was ever any immediate threat to the public.
U.S. officials tell CBS News the plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also built to be used in a passenger’s underwear but contained a more refined detonation system.
The device recovered has the hallmarks of previous devices used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP,) including be made of the same explosive material PETN. The bomb was designed to avoid detection at metal detectors. A law enforcement source tells CBS News that indications are that it would not have been picked up under normal x-ray machines, but possibly body scanning machines, which would have warranted a more intrusive search, but it would be dependent on an alert, skilled TSA agent.
It’s getting to the point where TSA agents will have to start asking people: “Boxers, briefs or bomb?”
Officials are saying that the work is believed to be that of bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, described as a prolific and talented bomb maker. Another prominent AQAP figure, Fahd al-Quso, killed recently in a drone attack, is believed to have played a part in the plot, but officials deny his assassination was linked to an attempt to thwart the plot.
The bomb plot had allegedly advanced to the point that a would-be suicide bomber was told to buy a ticket on the airliner of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack. It’s not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.
CBS News correspondent John Miller reports the bomb itself is now at the FBI’s Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, being examined by bomb technicians in the Explosive Section. The efforts that lead to the recovery of the device involved the CIA as well as other U.S. and international intelligence agencies that unfolded quietly over a period of weeks.
News of the terrorist plot comes after a heated political debate surrounding the anniversary of bin Laden’s death.
Obama’s reelection campaign last week touted the president’s decision to send a team of Navy SEALs to Pakistan to kill bin Laden, and argued that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would not have made the same decision.
That earned criticism from Republicans, who argued Obama was spiking the football and dividing the country over an anniversary that should have united Americans. Romney also argued that any president would have made the decision to go after bin Laden.
The fight has continued to percolate this week, with a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff questioning why it took Obama so long to order the raid into Pakistan.
Obama also visited Afghanistan on Wednesday to mark the anniversary and sign an agreement with that country’s government on the security relationship between the two countries after the exit of U.S. troops.
The would-be bomber was based in Yemen and had not bought a ticket when CIA agents stepped in and took the bomb, according to The Associated Press, which first reported on the incident. The AP learned of the attack last week, it said, but agreed to requests from the CIA and the White House to delay publication.
The bomber was advised to board any U.S.-bound flight and detonate the explosives at his or her discretion, officials said, according to the AP. No information was available on the whereabouts of the bomber.
It’s unclear who built the bomb, but the device does bear similarities to other explosive devices built by master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri. However, Asiri may not have been directly involved in this plot.
According to one official, there is “evidence that Asiri has passed along his bomb-making knowledge to others.” The official would not say whether Asiri or an apprentice were involved in this plot.
In an exclusive meeting, a senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News that Asiri posed the single most dangerous threat to the United States.
According to the official, Asiri is the most capable of carrying out al-Qaida’s threat to launch a significant terrorist attack to kill Americans inside the United States.
Asiri designed the first underwear bomb that failed over Detroit and he was also the maker of the printer ink cartridge bombs that were discovered before they were shipped to the United States.
The senior official said counter-terrorism officials were seriously troubled by the ink cartridge bombs because they were “particularly sophisticated.”
FYI a “senior intelligence official” in this case sounds like CIA Director Leon Panetta…
ABC News video report:
CNN report:
CBS News:
NBC News:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Some other reaction and tidbits:
—New York Magazine:
Remember the underwear bomber, the guy who tried to blow up a plane in 2009 by stuffing some sophisticated explosives into his pants? He’s no longer THE underwear bomber, but AN underwear bomber. The Associated Press reports that the CIA uncovered and stopped a plot involving another Al Qaeda operative walking onto a plane with a bomb stuffed down his pants. The attack, which was reportedly timed to loosely coincide with the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, was to be carried out by a member of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni outpost.
—The Politicker notes that the White House had not wanted this released ASAP:
There’s an interesting detail in the Associated Press’ scoop about a new plot by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen to mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death by blowing up a passenger plane with “an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009.” According to AP reporter Adam Goldman, the White House and the CIA both asked the news organization to keep quiet about the upgraded underwear bomb story.
“The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way,” Mr. Goldman wrote. “Once officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.”
The White House has been quiet about potential terror threats related to the anniversary of Bin Laden’s death.
“We have no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the anniversary of bin Laden’s death,” Press Secretary Jay Carney said on April 26.
—The Politico on this aspect of the story:
The Associated Press reports today that it learned last week of a thwarted Al Qaeda-affiliated plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airplane, but did not report on it because of an agreement with the White House and the CIA. However, the AP did decide to report the story one day earlier than the White House had requested.
“The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way,” the AP’s Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman report. “Once those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.”
The plot by Al Qaeda’s Yemenese affiliate aimed to destroy the plane using an underwear bomb, according to the AP, though a more sophisticated type than that used in the thwarted bomb plot attempted over Detroit in 2009.
“I’m not going to go beyond what’s in the piece,” AP spokesperson Paul Colford told POLITICO. “The piece does make clear that we held off until today because of the White House concerns. We reported on the story once the security concerns were met.”
Colford credited the AP’s exclusive access to the story to Apuzzo and Goldman’s reporting and their contacts within Washington’s national security circles.
It has this update:
AP spokesman Paul Colford provided the following statement to The Politicker:
“This story developed after the anniversary of the Bin Laden takedown.
The main thing is that we did not put anything on the AP wire until the security concerns that had been brought to our attention were allayed.
We moved it today, ahead of the ‘official announcement’ planned for tomorrow.”
The AP story notes that the CIA was working on the operation even as the Obama administration assured the U.S. public that it knew of no al-Qaida plots connected to the anniversary of bin Laden’s killing. AP intelligence writer Kimberly Dozier wrote in a story just before the anniversary, “There’s no sign of an active revenge plot against U.S. targets,” although she noted that the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen posed the greatest risk. That’s where the attack was hatched. Dozier is listed as a contributor to today’s report about the thwarted plot, but AP spokesman Paul Colford told me that the AP learned of the plot after the anniversary.
Two of the reporters who broke Monday’s story were part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, for exposing the New York Police Department’s spying on Muslim communities. || Related: Last week the AP apologized for firing a reporter who broke the embargo on German’s surrender at the end of World War II.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.