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We got the message, DNI tells Obama

The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency sits on the floor of the foyer at the CIA Headquarters, Langley, VA. (UPI Photo/Dennis Brack/Pool)
The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency sits on the floor of the foyer at the CIA Headquarters, Langley, VA. (UPI Photo/Dennis Brack/Pool) | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. intelligence community has made progress in collection and collaboration but needs to work harder to adapt to new threats, intelligence officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama blasted the U.S. intelligence community for failing to prevent Nigerian national Umaru Farouk Abdulmutallab from attempting to blow up a U.S. passenger plane Christmas Day.

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"The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack," the president said after meeting with intelligence officials."But our intelligence community failed to connect those dots, which would have placed the suspect on the 'no fly' list."

Obama went on to say that the issue was not a failure to collect intelligence but "a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had."

Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of national intelligence, responded to the presidential rebuke saying more was needed to address cross-agency collaboration.

"We got it, and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges," he said.

The president said he expected a review of national intelligence by the end of the week, calling for "corrective actions" to address any failures in collaboration to prevent further oversights.

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Blair responded, saying the intelligence community was working to adapt to new national security threats and new kinds of attacks.

"We can and we must out-think, outwork and defeat the enemy's new ideas," he said.

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