Dozens of Names Shifted to No-Fly List

The Obama administration has transferred dozens of names from a broad terrorism database to watch lists that are more closely monitored in an effort to plug security holes revealed by the Christmas Day airline-bombing attempt.

President Barack Obama met Monday with Central Intelligence Agency officials and White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan ahead of a broader security team meeting Tuesday.

That meeting will discuss assessments provided by intelligence agencies of how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to allegedly smuggle explosives onto a Northwest Airlines flight, despite warnings about him and numerous signs a terrorism plot was in the works.

Obama has attributed the plot to the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, which also has claimed credit for sending Abdulmutallab on his alleged mission.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said counterterrorism officials have examined "thousands upon thousands" of names from the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, to which Mr. Abdulmutallab was added in November. Dozens of names were shifted to the Transportation Security Administration's no-fly list, or to the Secondary Security Screening Selection list, also known as the selectee list.

The Christmas Day bombing attempt and recriminations that followed have set in motion policy responses with global reverberations. Security forces in Yemen, following consultations with U.S. officials, killed two alleged Al Qaeda militants on Monday in a village outside the capital of San'a, where the U.S. and British embassies remained closed due to terrorism threats.

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