House Intel chairman says the warning from bomb plotter's father was unclear

The alleged bomber's father did not explicitly warn U.S. authorities his son was considering a terrorist attack, a lawmaker said.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's father reportedly warned both the CIA and the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son was becoming radicalized, but Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), the chairman of the House intelligence committee, said it's unclear how specific he was.

"There was information initially that this young man's father came forward and said he was concerned that he might become a suicide bomber," Reyes told CNN yesterday. "That has now been, as early as yesterday, discredited, that he never made those kinds of claims."

Many had cited the father's reported warning as evidence that intelligence agencies should have caught on to the plot. President Barack Obama even cited such reports in his statement on the bombing, in which he lamented a "systemic failure" in security policy.