奥巴马批评美国情报界

The US president has lashed out at his own intelligence community over the alleged plot to blow up a passenger plane over Detroit on Christmas Day. Accusing it of failing to connect the dots, Barack Obama said the US government had enough information to stop the plot getting so far.

The US president summoned his top security team to have them explain why intelligence agencies failed to uncover the Detroit bomb plot. Mr. Obama told them their failure was not acceptable, not tolerable and demanded new solutions. He said the security lapse did not have anything to do with the collection of information, but with the failure to share it.

"The bottom line is this - the US government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack, but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots."

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on a watch list of 550,000 people. But he was not on the list that would have subjected him to additional security screening or kept him from boarding the flight.

"Time and again, we've learned that quickly piecing together information and taking swift action is critical to staying one step ahead of a nimble adversary."

The US president also said he was suspending the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen. Nearly half of the 198 prisoners are from the southern Arabian Peninsula. The alleged Delta bomber said he had been acting under the instruction of al-Qaeda based in Yemen where the group is growing in strength.

"But make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison, which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al-Qaeda."

The British government is also looking at how it shares its information, announcing an urgent review of its watch list. It said it did share information related to the Detroit case with the US, but didn't consider the suspect a threat.

"None of the information we held or shared indicated that Abdulmutallab was about to attempt a terrorist attack against the US."

In Yemen, both the British and American embassies have been reopened. They had been closed for two days in response to al-Qaeda threat. The US embassy said the decision to reopen came after two militants were killed in a raid by Yemeni forces near the capital.

Simone Sutcliffe, World News Australia.

Glossary [only for reference]

 lash out at [phrasal verb]: to suddenly speak angrily to someone or criticize someone angrily

intelligence community: a cooperative federation of 16 separate United States government agencies that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities considered necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and the protection of the national security of the United States.

blow up [phrasal verb]: to destroy something, or to be destroyed, by an explosion

connect the dots: used as a metaphor to illustrate a person's ability (or inability) to associate one idea with anothersummon [transitive]: formal, to order someone to come to a place

lapse [countable]: a short period of time during which you fail to do something well or properly, often caused by not being careful

bottom line: used to tell someone what the most important part of a situation is, or what the most important thing to consider is

sufficient: formal, as much as is needed for a particular purpose

watch list: a list created and maintained by the United States government of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States.

subject somebody/something to something [phrasal verb]: to force someone or something to experience something very unpleasant, especially over a long time

screening [uncountable]: tests or checks that are done to make sure that people or things are acceptable or suitable for a particular purpose

time and again: again and again; repeatedly

piece something together [phrasal verb]: to use all the information you have about a situation in order to discover the truth about it

stay one step ahead (of somebody): to be better prepared for something or know more about something than someone else

nimble: quick to understand, think, devise

adversary [countable]: formal, a country or person you are fighting or competing against

suspend [transitive]: to officially stop something from continuing, especially for a short time

Delta: a United States airline based and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the world's largest airline in terms of passenger traffic, fleet size, and annual revenue.

al-Qaeda: an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989/early 1990. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless arm and a fundamentalist Sunni movement calling for global jihad.

recruiting tool: an advertising method that aids in creating interest in and getting people for a typically political organization.

attempt [transitive]: to try to do something, especially something difficult

embassy [countable]: a group of officials who represent their government in a foreign country, or the building they work in