Top intel official: Christmas bomb suspect should have been questioned as high-value detainee
By Eileen Sullivan, APWednesday, January 20, 2010
Intel chief faults questioning of bomb suspect
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top intelligence official says the Christmas Day airline bombing suspect should have been treated as a high-value terror suspect when the plane landed. That would have meant questioning by special interrogators rather than civilian law officers.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO’-mahr fah-ROOK’ ahb-DOOL’-moo-TAH’-lahb) was interviewed by federal law enforcement investigators when Northwest Flight 253 landed in Detroit after he allegedly tried to detonate a homemade bomb sneaked through airport security in Nigeria and Amsterdam. Abdulmutallab is being held in a prison about 50 miles outside of Detroit.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told a Senate committee Wednesday that he was not consulted on whether Abdulmutallab should be questioned by the recently created High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.
