Note: This paper appeared in the 6th Volume of the Journal on Terrorism and Security Analysis in Spring 2011.

Excerpt
On December 25, 2009 a 23-year old Nigerian national boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands bound for Detroit, Michigan. As the plane neared its final destination, passengers heard sharp popping noises, smelled something acrid, and saw smoke and flames emanating from seat 19A. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, his body covered by a blanket, had triggered an explosive device sewn into the hem of his underwear by mixing the chemical Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) with Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), using an acid-filled syringe. Quick-thinking passengers and crewmembers successfully put out the ensuing fire. None of the 289 people aboard Flight 253 sustained serious injuries. Abdulmutallab was detained immediately upon the flight’s arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport by federal authorities and indicted by a federal grand jury two weeks later.

A preliminary review of the events leading up to the Christmas Day attack conducted by the White House “highlight*ed+ human errors and a series of systemic breakdowns” that prevented the detection and disruption of the attack. The review identified several causes for the failure to interdict the plot to bring down Flight 253, but did not specify the degree to which each contributed to the ultimate outcome. Continue reading (PDF)

About the author
Braden Civins, a native Texan, is in his final year of study at The University of Texas, pursuing a J.D. from the School of Law and a Master of Global Policy Studies and specializing in Security Studies at the Lydon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He is a member of the Texas International Law Journal and former participant in the National Security Clinic, where he co- authored a successful appellate brief on behalf of a Guantanamo Bay detainee. He works at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. He spent recent summers working at the Criminal Prosecutions Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Department of State.