The failed attempt, by Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to bring down a Northwest jet on Christmas Day was a grim reminder of the vulnerability of our intelligence systems. Admiral Mullen reassured the audience that U.S. intelligence agencies have made significant progress.
âWe’ve made an awful lot of progress to focus on these terrorists and, yet, we certainly had the incident on the 25th of December which has been front and center,” said Mullen. “It’s not a perfect system,â said Mullen. “We endeavor, and there are an awful lot of tremendous people who work to make it perfect, but there’s a human factor here that’s in play in all these systems,” he said.
He concluded with optimistic remarks and revealed that President Obama is dedicated to improving our intelligence capabilities.