Asia-Pacific

Obama vows to thwart future terrorist attacks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-06 10:57

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to thwart future terrorist attacks, but insisted that his administration's plan to close the Guantanamo prison would not be stopped as a result of the failed Christmas Day terror plot.

"We are determined not only to thwart those plans (to attack the United States) but also ... defeat their (terrorism groups') networks once and for all," Obama said after attending a meeting with senior security and intelligence officials at the White House.

Obama vows to thwart future terrorist attacks

US President Barack Obama speaks to the media after a meeting with senior security and intelligence officials at the White House discussing reviews of a failed terrorist bombing attempt on Christmas, in Washington DC, the United States, January 5, 2010. [Xinhua]

The meeting was summoned to discuss the reviews of security screening at airports and the US terror watch list system, following a failed bomb attack plot in which a Nigerian young man brought an explosive device onto a US international flight and attempted to blow it up on Dec. 25, 2009.

Al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the incident, and its leader was reportedly released from the Guantanamo prison.

Although the US government has halted the transfer of Yemeni Guantanamo detainees to their home country, Obama noted that the decision was made giving "the unsettle situation at this time," but the plan to close the controversial facility is still on.

According to White House officials, at the closed-door security summit on Tuesday, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller updated the president on the ongoing investigation in the Christmas bombing plot, and Attorney General Eric Holder shared his perspectives in prosecution.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Nathere, on the other hand, released the review of terrorist detection techniques, and White House top advisor on counterterrorism affairs John Brennan made his recommendations on the watch list system.

State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu were also among the attendees.

The US government has taken several measures in response to the Christmas incident, including the Transportation Security Administration's new directive on strengthening security check at domestic and international airports for travelers to the United States, especially those from 14 countries on the State Department's lists of "State Sponsors of Terrorism" and other "countries of interest."

The government has also added dozens of names to its lists of suspected terrorists and those barred from flights bound for the United States, said a spokesman on Monday.