Christmas Day Terrorist Pleads Not Guilty; President Obama Changes Strategy Against Terrorism

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will take his chances against the American criminal justice system. The 23-year-old Nigerian man who attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas day pleaded not guilty to six charges, which include the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.

If convicted, Abdulmutallab will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Abdulmutallab boarded flight 253 in Amsterdam with several concealed bomb components that he attempted to detonate minutes before the flight was scheduled to land in Detroit. However, the bomb failed to completely ignite and only caused a small fire. After being restrained by several passengers, Abdulmutallab was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

In a statement, President Barack Obama took responsibility for the security breach and promised that major reforms would be taking place in the near future. “We must follow the leads that we get, and we must pursue them until plots are disrupted,” he said. “And that means assigning clear lines of responsibility. Taken together, these reforms will improve the intelligence community’s ability to collect, share, integrate, analyze and act on intelligence swiftly and effectively.” –amir shaw