White House to release security report Thursday on Christmas bombing attempt

The White House will reveal an unclassified report on Thursday detailing what led to the attempted bombing of a plane on Christmas Day.

The review, ordered by President Barack Obama and compiled by deputy national security adviser John Brennan, comes just after Obama said he will "not tolerate" human and systemic failures like the one that allowed a would-be terrorist onto a Detroit-bound flight.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, however, that he does not expect there to be news of resignations or firings when the report is disclosed.

The president will make a statement on the findings, and both Brennan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will brief reporters on the findings.

Gibbs said the review, which is an unclassified version of what Brennan has given Obama, will be "very comprehensive."

"The review will simply identify and make recommendations as to what was lacking and what needs to be strengthened," Gibbs said. "The review process will be a dynamic one, where the president and John will continue to ensure that agencies are implementing their plans for correcting what was identified in each of those reviews."

Obama ordered the review after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to detonate a plastic-explosive device aboard a plane flying to Detroit from Amsterdam.

“This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," Obama said Tuesday. "We dodged a bullet, but just barely.”

In a statement Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said "we got" the president's message and would act accordingly to "out-think, outwork and defeat the enemy’s new ideas."

"The intelligence community has made considerable progress in developing collection and analysis capabilities and improving collaboration, but we need to strengthen our ability to stop new tactics such as the efforts of individual suicide terrorists," Blair said. "The threat has evolved, and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect America."

---