Since the attempted attack, the intelligence community has scrubbed the entire Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database of more than 500, 000 suspects with the new criteria, adding additional individuals to the U.S. watch lists and no-fly lists as a result.

CNN: U.S. lowers threshold for inclusion on no-fly lists

The president said that defense spending would be cut as the tide of war receded, but pledged to maintain critical capabilities in areas such as intelligence gathering, orbital reconnaissance and cyber security.

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U.S. authorities added both the mother and son to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, database -- a collection of more than a half million names maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, an intelligence official said.

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