Homeland Security panel launches attack probe in Europe

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee dispatched staffers to Europe to investigate the attempted terror attack on a Christmas Day flight.

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced that he's sending a delegation of staff to England and the Netherlands to investigate the security breakdowns that led a Nigerian man, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, to successfully smuggle explosives on board a flight from Amsterdam in Detroit in December and almost successfully blow up the plane.

“I have directed Committee on Homeland Security staff to get a first hand look at the security systems that failed on December 25," Thompson said in a statement. "I am confident that this in-person examination will inform the Committee’s January 27th hearing on Flight 253 and provide insights on information sharing infrastructure, the watchlisting process, and passenger screen technologies."

Thompson, along with President Barack Obama and other House and Senate committee chairmen, have launched what they've promised will be a thorough probe into the attempted terrorist attack. The committee's staffers will head to London, Abdulmutallab's home, and Amsterdam, the origin of the targeted flight, for their investigation.

Obama has launched his own investigation into the breakdown, and has ordered reviews and changes to the nation's watchlist and airport security screening procedures.

Thompson said that although he welcomed those reforms, he felt the need for his committee to launch its own reviews independent of the White House.

"While I am relieved that some reforms have already been put in place, the Committee needs to examine the role of each DHS components and the intelligence community in the December 25 attack," he said.

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