Summary: U.S. agencies are looking into whether al-Qaida extremists in Yemen directed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and provided him with the explosives used in the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 26, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported a new Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013, which projects that the terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security, and increasing Internet savvy — with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear [CBRN] attacks considered the most dangerous threats to U.S. national security.
Summary: Terror alert level raised as a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, claiming ties to al-Qaida, tries to light an apparent explosive powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it lands in Detroit.