Al Qaeda bomber was CIA informant

EILEEN SULLIVAN, MATT APUZZO AND ADAM GOLDMAN

May 9, 2012

US and Yemeni officials say the supposed would-be bomber at the heart of an al Qaeda airliner plot was actually an informant working for the CIA.

The revelation, first reported by The Los Angeles Times, shows how the CIA was able to get its hands on a sophisticated underwear bomb well before an attack was set in motion.

Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb. He then turned the device over to authorities. Officials say the informant is safely out of Yemen.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence matter.

The FBI is still analysing the sophisticated explosive. But, based on preliminary findings, security procedures at US airports remained unchanged a day after the plot became public.

That was a reflection of both the US confidence in its security systems and a recognition that the government can't realistically expect travellers to endure much more. Increased costs and delays to airlines and shipping companies could have a global economic impact, too.

"I would not expect any real changes for the travelling public," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "There is a concern that overseas security doesn't match ours. That's an ongoing challenge."

The Transportation Security Administration sent advice to some international air carriers and airports about security measures that might stave off an attack from a hidden explosive. It's the same advice the US has issued before, but there was a thought that it might get new attention in light of the foiled plot.

The US has worked for years to try to improve security for US-bound flights originating at international airports. And many countries agree that security needs to be better. But while plots such as the Christmas attack have spurred changes, some security gaps that have been closed in the US remain open overseas.

Officials believe that body scanners, for instance, probably would have detected this latest attempt by al Qaeda to bring down a jetliner. Such scanners allow screeners to see objects hidden beneath a passenger's clothes.

But while scanners are in place in airports nationwide, their use is scattershot overseas. Even in security-conscious Europe, the European Union has not required full-body imaging machines for all airports, though a number of major airports in Paris, London, Frankfurt and elsewhere use them.

All passengers on US-bound flights are checked against terrorist watch lists and law enforcement databases.

In some countries, US officials are stationed in airports to offer advice on security matters. In some cases, though, the US is limited to hoping that other countries follow the security advice from the Transportation Security Administration.

"Even if our technology is good enough to spot it, the technology is still in human hands and we are inherently fallible," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee. "And overseas, we have varying degrees of security depending on where the flight originates."Al Qaeda has repeatedly tried to take advantage of those overseas gaps.

The Christmas 2009 bombing originated in Amsterdam, where the bomber did not receive a full-body scan.  And in 2010, terrorists smuggled bombs onto cargo jets, which receive less scrutiny than passenger planes.

In both those instances, the bombs were made by al Qaeda's master bomb maker in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Officials believe this latest bomb was the handiwork of al-Asiri or one of his students.

The CIA was tipped off to the plot last month by an informant close to al Qaeda, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. The agency recovered the bomb in recent weeks, but it's not clear what happened to the would-be suicide bomber.

The bomber "is in no position to harm us," Rogers said.

"Neither the bomb nor any other part of the plot represents an ongoing threat to the US," Schiff said.

In the meantime, Americans traveled Tuesday with little apparent concern.

"We were nervous - for a minute," said Nan Gartner, a retiree on her way to Italy from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "But then we thought, we aren't going anywhere near Yemen, so we're OK.