Obama Faults 'Systemic Failure' in US Security

President Obama today flatly declared that the US security system broke down ahead of Friday's attempted airline bombing. He blamed a "systemic failure" for leading to a "catastrophic breach of security" and promised reviews of both airport screening and the terror watch list. He said he wants preliminary reports by Thursday, reports CBS.

Noting that the suspect's father reported his son to authorities well ahead of the attack, Obama blamed a "mix of human and systemic failure" for the close call. Information about the suspect should have been shared among the proper agencies, he said. "We need to determine just how the suspect was able to bring dangerous explosives aboard an aircraft and what additional steps we can take to thwart future attacks," he said. (More Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab stories.)