Obama vows to tighten air security

US President Barack Obama, says that the US government had enough information to foil the attempted bombing of the Christmas Day flight. But, that intelligence agencies failed to connect the dots.

Speaking after meeting his Cabinet and national security team, the president said he will act with utmost urgency to tighten air security. He outlined an initial series of changes in procedures, including enhancing the so-called watchlists of terrorism suspects. Some of the tougher procedures Obama demands, have already been put in place.

The Transportation Security Administration has directed airlines, from Monday, to give full-body, pat-down searches to US-bound travelers from 14 countries including Yemen and Nigeria.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media after a meeting with  senior security and intelligence officials at the White House discussing  reviews of a failed terrorist bombing attempt on Christmas, in Washington  D.C., the United States, Jan. 5, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)