US Spelling Error Allowed Nigerian Terrorist To Board Plane To Detroit

This Day (Lagos)
Nigeria: U.S. - Spelling Error Aided Abdulmutallab's Terror Mission

Tokunbo Adedoja

28 April 2010


New York — Four months after the botched bomb attack on an American aircraft by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the United States has revealed that spelling error by its embassy officials who processed the information provided by the suspect's father before the incident, allowed him to travel unspotted.

Also, the US has reviewed its visa issuance and revocation criteria, introducing technological and procedural enhancements to facilitate and strengthen visa related processes.

The latest information on the Abdulmutallab case was revealed in the transcript of the testimonies of top US officials who appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs last week.

In her testimony before the Senator Joseph Lieberman-led committee, during the hearing on, 'Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack: Securing the Visa Process', Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Ambassador Janice Jacobs, offered an extensive explanation on what transpired.

"In the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on the day following his father's November 19 visit to the embassy, we sent a cable to the Washington intelligence and law enforcement community through proper channels (the Visas Viper system) stating that 'Information at post suggests (that Farouk) may be involved in Yemeni-based extremists.'

At the same time, the Consular Section entered Abdulmutallab into the Consular Lookout and Support System database known as CLASS.

"In sending the Visas Viper cable and checking State Department records to determine whether Abdulmutallab had a visa, embassy officials misspelled his name, but entered it correctly into CLASS. As a result of the misspelling in the cable, information about previous visas issued to him and the fact that he currently held a valid US visa was not included in the cable."

She however noted that the correctly-spelt CLASS lookout was shared automatically with the primary lookout system used by Department of Homeland Security and accessible to other agencies.

She explained that on the basis of this, Abdulmutallab would have been identified by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for secondary screening had flight 253 landed normally in Detroit, US.

Jacobs noted that the attention of the US government was now on addressing the deficiencies identified following the attack.

"After reviewing these events, we took immediate action to improve the procedures and content requirements for Visas Viper cable reporting to call attention to the visa application and issuance material already present in the data that we share with our national security partners.

"In cabled instructions to the field, all officers were instructed to include complete information about all previous and current U.S. visa(s) in Visas Vipers cables," explained the ambassador.


"The guidance cable included specific instructions on methods to comprehensively and intensively search the database of visa records so that all pertinent information is obtained. I can confirm that these new requirements have been followed in all Visas Viper cables submitted since December," she added.

In his testimony, Assistant Secretary (Policy), David Heyman, said the attempted attack by Abdulmutallab was one more reminder of the importance of ensuring that visa screening procedures utilise tools to counter terrorism.

According to him, screening must include functionally related measures such as document verification capabilities and enhanced international information sharing.

He added that emphasis should be placed on information sharing with trusted international partners because it is critical.