DNI takes 'penetrating look' at intel

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. intelligence agencies failed to understand the threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula but are committed to meeting the challenge, officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed frustration with the inability of the U.S. intelligence community to "connect the dots" that would have prevented the would-be bomber of a U.S. passenger plane from boarding the flight Christmas Day.

Obama in the wake of the plot ordered a review of U.S. intelligence sharing, saying failures were not in collection of information but analysis of the data on hand.

"Rather than a failure to collect or share intelligence, this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence that we already had," the president said.

Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of national intelligence, acknowledged the shortcomings, promising to move forward swiftly with the president's recommended actions.

"We had strategic intelligence that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had the intention of taking action against the United States," he said. "We did not direct more resources against AQAP, nor insist that the watchlisting criteria be adjusted."

Obama tasked Blair with taking the lead in improving daily intelligence methods, prompting the director to "take a fresh and penetrating look at strengthening both human and technical performance and do what we have to do in all areas."