Obama to grill security chiefs as terror lists grow

Barack Obama is preparing to question and challenge his team today about the state of national security as America added dozens of people to its lists of suspected terrorists and those barred from US-bound flights.

The president will meet the high-ranking officials at the White House who are charged with the two reviews he ordered after the botched Christmas airliner attack over Detroit - one on air travel screening procedures and another on the US terror watch list system.

Meanwhile, people flying to the US from overseas will continue to see tougher security.

The Transportation Security Administration has directed airlines to give full-body pat-downs to US-bound travellers from Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and 11 other countries believed to have terrorism activity - a move criticised by one Muslim advocacy group.

The addition of more names to the government's terrorist watch and no-fly lists came after US officials closely scrutinised a larger database of suspected terrorists, an intelligence official said last night.

People on the watch list get additional checking before they are allowed to enter this country; those on the no-fly list are barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the US.

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who claimed ties to al-Qaida was charged on December 26 with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound plane as it approached the airport.

He is accused of sneaking an explosive device on to the plane and then setting it off, sparking a fire, but not the intended mass explosion.

Abdulmutallab's name was in the US government's database of about 550,000 people suspected of having terrorism ties, but not on a list requiring him to pass through additional security screening or keep him from flying to the US

That prompted a review of the National Counterterrorism Centre's massive Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database and spurred the enhanced security screening protocol issued yesterday.

The security breach competed for Mr Obama's attention as he juggled other matters - his final push to get health care legislation through Congress, the ever-present drive to ease the nation's employment woes, and an approaching State of the Union address to spell out his second-year agenda.

His meeting today will be his most comprehensive, hands-on briefing since the failed terrorist attack rocked the nation.

"With respect to what happened with the terrorist on the plane coming into Detroit, we are not satisfied," US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

"The president has called for a whole-of-government review."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the meeting would probably yield "some new information" about the steps ahead but the White House would not go into further detail.

Abdulmutallab told US investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. The explosive device, which some say may have been designed to evade US security restrictions, was hidden below his waist.

As a result, people who are from, travelling from or through Cuba; Iran; Sudan; Syria; Afghanistan; Algeria; Iraq; Lebanon; Libya; Nigeria; Pakistan; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; and Yemen are supposed to have full-body pat-downs or scanning, go through explosive detection technology, and have their carry-on luggage inspected.

The US has designated Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries are considered "of interest" based on the latest intelligence.

However, The Council of American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, said that the measures amounted to religious profiling because so many people from these countries were Muslim.

The new security measures were to go into effect yesterday, but several European countries were still scrambling to digest and implement the new rules.