AP source: US officials knew name of terror suspect who tried to blow up airliner in Detroit

AP source: US knew of terror suspect

WASHINGTON — The person accused of the attack on a Detroit-bound airliner had been added to a government list of people with terror ties in November.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s name was added to a list that includes names of people with known or supsected contact or ties to a terrorist or terrorist organization. Around the same time, the suspect’s father went to U.S. embassy officials in Nigeria with concerns about his son’s religious beliefs.

The suspect’s name, however, had come to the attention of intelligence officials many months before that, according to a U.S. official involved in the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation.

The man’s name was added to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list in November. It is maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center and includes about 550,000 names.

People on that list are not necessarily on the no-fly list and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Abdulmutallab was not on that no-fly list.

King, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said no federal air marshals were on the flights from Nigeria to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Detroit. Abdulmutallab did not go through full-body image screening at either airport, the congressman said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Mutallab would have been re-screened at the Amsterdam airport after his flight from Nigeria. Thompson and others say the Amsterdam airport has long had a good reputation for security.

Thompson said he plans to hold a hearing in January about the incident.

“It’s still safe to fly,” Thompson said.

(This version CORRECTS previous account saying suspect was on terror watch list for at least two years.)