President Obama Briefed a Number of Times Aboard Air Force One About Possible Shoe Bomber

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told Fox today in Prague that President Obama received numerous briefings aboard Air Force One on his flight here about the potentially lethal mid-air situation involving a passenger who federal air marshals feared might have tried to ignite a shoe bomb.

National Security Adviser Jim Jones and National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough first alerted Obama to the developing situation, in which a suspect was detained and fighter jets had been scrambled to escort the Boeing 757 jet with 157 passengers and six crew members to a safe landing at Denver International Airport. Gibbs provided two additional briefings and McDonough one more to Obama as the White House funneled information to the commander-in-chief. Early on, Gibbs said, the on-board atmosphere was tense.

In Washington, top White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan established a secure video teleconference link with Air Force One, briefing McDonough and other White House staff on the latest news.

Gibbs said as the information began to flow, the mood in Air Force began to lighten. "We went from a potential shoe bomber to a smoking incident," Gibbs told Fox.

The man who triggered the massive scare, low-ranking Qatari diplomat Mohammed Al-Madadi, was released today and was en route  to Washington.

Al-Madadi smoked a cigarette in the bathroom aboard a flight from Washington to Denver and told flight attendants who intervened to stop him, he was trying to light his shoes on fire. Two federal air marshals arrested Al-Madadi and alerted security officials of a potentially lethal situation on board the flight.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command ordered to F-16 fighter jets from nearby Buckley Air Force Base to meet the Boeing jet in mid-air. The fighter jets accompanied the jet for about 15 minutes before it touched down at 7 p.m. CDT.