How come the Detroit Flight terrorist was not prevented from flying?

Janet Napolitano, the Secretary for Homeland Security, explains the failure.

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The explanation might or might not stand scrutiny. Many have pointed to the fact that the recent terrorist attempted attack on a flight headed for Chicago was preventable. The terrorist, Abdulmuttalab, carried on his body an explosive substance that was easily traceable by machines found on both ports of embarkation used by the teorrorist (Abuja and Amsterdam).

According to MSNBC:

The explosive device used by the would-be Detroit bomber contained a widely available — and easily detected — chemical explosive that has a long history of terrorist use, according to government officials and explosive experts.

The chemical — PETN — is small, powerful and appealing to terrorists. The Saudi government said it was used in an assassination attempt on the country’s counterterrorism operations chief in August.

It was also a component of the explosive that Richard Reid, the convicted “shoe bomber,” used in his 2001 attempt to down an airliner.

The U.S. provided full-body scanners to all four international airports in Nigeria, according to the State Department. The scanners were installed in March, May and June of 2008.

Abdulmutallab was on a broad U.S. terrorist watch list but he was not designated for special screening measures or placed on a no-fly list because of a dearth of specific information about his activities, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday. She said he was properly screened before getting on the aircraft in Amsterdam. Abdulmutallab has claimed to law enforcement officials that he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

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