On November 20, a State Department cable to Washington on AbdulMutallab -- based on the information from his father -- lacked any mention of his visa, the officials said.
CNN: State Department failed to confirm terror suspect's visa
The father's information was vetted and a determination on how to proceed was made through a U.S. inter-agency process, and a file was opened on Abdulmutallab about five weeks ago.
Authorities have focused their investigation on how AbdulMutallab, 23, allegedly smuggled the explosives aboard the flight and who might have helped him.
The determination not to put AbdulMutallab on the screening list had far-reaching consequences.
"I'm not aware of a magic piece of intelligence somehow withheld that would have put AbdulMutallab on the no-fly list, " the official said.
It immediately indicted Mr. Abdulmutallab on criminal charges of trying to destroy an aircraft, despite reports that he told officials he had ties to al Qaeda and had picked up his PETN explosive in Yemen.
Weeks later, on Christmas Day 2009, AbdulMutallab came close to destroying Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on its final descent into Detroit with an explosive device hidden in his underwear.
First, the British government yesterday and today said that they have passed on the information about Abdulmutallab and his time in Britain to U.S. intelligence.
One passenger on same plane as AbdulMutallab told CNN's "Larry King Live" that the security checks at Schiphol were not as stringent as those she is used to in the United States.
CNN: Dutch, Nigerians to use full body scans for air travelers
The home secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the US authorities should theoretically have been informed that Mr Abdulmutallab was on a UK watch-list, and he doubted there had been a "hiccup" in procedures.
BBC: Bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on UK watch-list
These are among the fragments of intelligence that were available in the intelligence community on Christmas Eve, before Abdulmutallab ever boarded the aircraft in Amsterdam.
"During his time on the course, Mr Abdulmutallab never gave his tutors any cause for concern and was a well mannered, quietly spoken, polite and able young man, " it said.
BBC: Bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on UK watch-list
Additionally, a few weeks before the botched attack on the Northwest flight, Abdulmutallab's father contacted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria about concerns his son had "become radicalized" and might be planning something, but this information wasn't further investigated.
Luckily the bomb failed to detonate, although it set Abdulmutallab's clothes on fire.
Kit Bond, R-Missouri, said it was a mistake for security officials to have read AbdulMutallab his Miranda rights on the night he was arrested, instead of first conducting further interrogation.
This in turn fed into shortcomings in the watchlisting system, both human and technological, which resulted in Abdulmutallab not being placed on the watchlist, thereby allowing him to board a plane in Amsterdam for Detroit.
In Nigeria, Abdulmutallab checked no baggage on his trip that originated in Lagos on a KLM flight to Amsterdam, where he changed planes to the Northwest flight, according to Harold Demuren, director-general of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority.
The State Department officials maintained that the failure to discover the visa, by itself, would not have prevented AbdulMutallab from boarding the plane on December 25.
CNN: State Department failed to confirm terror suspect's visa
The suspect in that attack, 23-year-old Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, was indicted Wednesday on six criminal counts, including attempting to blow up an airplane and attempting to murder the other 289 people aboard.
Again, Major, I don't want to speak for Senator Bond in why, if he was briefed on Monday, why on Tuesday, why does he say that Abdulmutallab -- the result of his refusal to cooperate after he was Mirandized?
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a foreign national who was on the terrorist watch list.
Case in point: Passengers and crew subdued Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "underwear bomber" on a Northwest Airlines flight in 2009.
"The intelligence community analysts who were working hard on immediate threats to Americans in Yemen did not understand the fragments of intelligence on what turned out later to be Mr. AbdulMutallab, so they did not push him onto the no-fly list, " he said.
Nidal Hasan, who went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, and prepared Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber who attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane on Christmas Day that year.
"Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab should not have stepped onto a plane on Christmas Day, " he said.
CNN: Senators hear testimony on alleged Christmas Day bomb plot
On December 25, Chukwu was seated about five rows behind AbdulMutallab when the bombing attempt took place.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a plane from Amsterdam when it was about to land in Detroit.
During a hearing on Tuesday, information was released that clearly showed that Mr. Abdulmutallab was indeed talking again to interrogators.
In a report Thursday on the intelligence breakdowns in the case, John Brennan, Obama's adviser on homeland security and counter-terrorism, highlighted the confusion over AbdulMutallab's visa status.
CNN: State Department failed to confirm terror suspect's visa
Our British allies revoked AbdulMutallab's British visa for fraud because he lied on his visa application, but they did not inform the U.S. because it was, in their judgment, not related to a national security issue.
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