Comment: Christmas Day Plot, Part I (Update)

The Telegraph has published a story today claiming that US Customs and Border Protection had singled out Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab based on the human intelligence submitted by the State Department and were waiting to bring him in for interrogation in Detroit. This claim seems to take some steam out of the argument that US intelligence failed to “connect the dots.” This raises the question whether, under the circumstances, some other operative action should have been taken while the flight was in the air. Given what was known, would it have been appropriate to order the flight to turn back around to Amsterdam? Suppose Abdulmutallab caught on to what was happening and decided to detonate over Amsterdam upon the return. Would it have been appropriate to order the flight crew to restrain him? Think of the standards that would apply if the “suspect” were simply someone standing on a public street. Should different standards apply on airplanes?

The article also features an interesting quote from a “senior Homeland Security official” who indicated that “in-depth vetting only begins once the flight manifest has been generated, a few hours before takeoff.” This statement suggests that passenger name records are not submitted on a rolling basis as reservations are made but only once the list of passengers on any one flight has been relatively solidified.