CIA disrupts al-Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb airline

The CIA and overseas intelligence partners disrupted an al-Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb a civilian aircraft using an advanced explosive device designed by the terrorist network’s affiliate in Yemen, U.S. officials reported on Monday. A U.S. official reported President Barack Obama was made aware of the threat in April, and the plot was prevented before any aircraft or passengers could be put in danger. Spokesman for the National Security Council Caitlin Hayden said President Obama “was assured that the device did not pose a threat to the public.”

The FBI is examining the device, which is modeled on the “underwear bomb” used in an attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in 2009, to determine whether airport security systems would have detected it. U.S. officials said the CIA and other agencies tracked the plan for about a month before seizing the device in recent days in the Middle East outside Yemen, where the bomb was built. U.S. officials rejected to provide media key details about the terrorist plot, raising concern about protecting sensitive intelligence sources and operations.