Security Slip Let NYC Bomb Suspect on Plane

[TheSarge]

WASHINGTON -- The no-fly list failed to keep the Times Square suspect off the plane.

Faisal Shahzad had boarded a jetliner bound for the United Arab Emirates Monday night before federal authorities pulled him back. Although under surveillance since midafternoon, he had managed to elude investigators and head to the airport.

The night's events, gradually coming to light, underscored the flaws in the nation's aviation security system, which despite its technologies, lists and information sharing, often comes down to someone making a right call.

As federal agents closed in, Faisal Shahzad was aboard Emirates Flight 202. He reserved a ticket on the way to John F. Kennedy International Airport, paid cash on arrival and walked through security without being stopped.

By the time Customs and Border Protection officials, using a no-fly list updated earlier Tuesday, spotted Shahzad's name on the passenger list and recognized him as the bombing suspect they were looking for, he was in his seat and the plane was preparing to leave the gate.

After authorities pulled Shahzad off the plane, he admitted he was behind the crude Times Square car bomb, officials said. He also claimed to have been trained at a terror camp in Pakistan's lawless tribal region of Waziristan, according to court documents. That raised increased concern that the bombing was an international terror plot.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/05/security-slip-let-nyc-bomb-suspect-plane/

[NHSparky]

So much for the spin the Obozo administration put out that tried to put the blame on Emirates Airlines.

[littlelamb]

After I heard the good thing they did on Mark Levin I was not as mad as I was before about the slip up

[DumbAss Tanker]

Really the Feds cutting it too close by overestimating their own ability to follow him, and being slow to add him to the no-fly list, had a lot more to do with it being a close call than the way the list itself worked.

[Alpha Mare]

Confessed terrorist Faisal Shahzad was removed from the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list sometime after Barack Obama came into office.
CBS reported:

Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list – Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) – between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States

Barack Obama began shutting down Bush-era terrorist investigations last year including the investigation of Faisal Shahzad.

We all know what happened next.

Last week Faisal almost blew a hole in the middle of Times Square.

The only thing that saved the people of New York was Faisal’s incompetence.

UPDATE: Faisal Shahzad had contacts with several other terrorist leaders including the radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki, the Taliban Chief, and the Mumbai Massacre mastermind.

ABC reported:

Shahzad also had a web of jihadist contacts that included big names tied to terror attacks in the U.S. and abroad, including the figure who has emerged as a central figure in many recent domestic terror attempts – radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki.

Besides Awlaki, sources say Shahzad was also linked to a key figure in the Pakistani Taliban, its Emir Beitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a drone missile strike in 2009. The Mehsuds had been family friends of Shahzad, who is the son of a former high-ranking Pakistani military officer.

http://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2010/05/06/breaking-obama-administration-removed-faisal-shahzad-from-terror-surveillance-list-before-attack/