Mass of Data, Analysis Failures Main Culprits of Christmas Day Attack

The botched terrorist attack on Christmas Day was a failure of intelligence analysis and not information sharing, the two former chairs of the 9-11 Commission testified today. "The greatest single challenge that arises from this incident in our view is the urgent need to strengthen the analytic process," former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Gov. Tom Kean said in prepared testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

They were joined by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Director of the National Counterterroism Center Michael E. Leiter, both of whom testified earlier this morning before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Reform with Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence. Members of both committees focused on how to correct the intelligence and security failures that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, to board a flight from Amsterdam with high explosives sewn into his underwear, despite numerous indicators that should have landed him on the country's No-Fly List.