Anwar al-Awlaki has also been linked to the Fort Hood shootings The alleged US plane bomber met radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, after being recruited in London, a senior Yemeni official has said. Last week US security official John Brennan said there were "indications" of direct contact between the two men. Mr Awlaki was linked to an attack by a US Army major on the Fort Hood base in November, in which 13 people died. Yemen's deputy prime minister also said bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab used explosives from Nigeria not Yemen. Mr Abdulmutallab was indicted by a US grand jury on six counts on Wednesday. ANWAR AL-AWLAKI Born 1971 in New Mexico Sermons in San Diego, California, attended by two of 9/11 hijackers Endorsed violence as religious duty Moved to Yemen in 2004 to live in ancestral home village Jailed in 2006 for alleged plot to kidnap US military attache Advised Fort Hood suspect Maj Nidal Malik Hasan by e-mail 
 
 Profile: Anwar al-Awlaki Al-Qaeda's influence in Yemen Q&A: 'Jet bomber' case Charges against him include attempted murder of the 290 people aboard the plane and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Mr Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, but the plane landed safely after crew and passengers overpowered him. In a separate development, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Rashad al-Alimi said that five Germans including three children and a Briton kidnapped in Yemen six months ago were still alive. He said northern Shia rebels were co-operating with al-Qaeda over the kidnap. 'Not just a cleric' Mr Alimi told journalists that Mr Abdulmutallab "joined al-Qaeda in London". The suspected bomber studied at University College London (UCL) from September 2005 to June 2008 and was president of its Islamic society in 2006-07. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been in custody since 25 December But UCL has said there is no evidence to suggest Mr Abdulmutallab was radicalised while he was there, and UK officials responding to the Yemeni statement said they still believed his recruitment occurred in Yemen in the months before the attack. Mr Alimi said the suspect met Mr Awlaki in the cleric's ancestral home province of Shabwa. Mr Awlaki, a radical American Muslim cleric of Yemeni descent, has been linked to other attacks, including that carried out by Maj Nidal Malik Hasan of the US Army at the Fort Hood base in Texas in November. "Mr Awlaki is a problem. He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula," Mr Brennan, who is US deputy national security adviser, told CNN last week. "He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism." Some reports say the cleric was killed just before the Christmas attack, in an airstrike on a suspected al-Qaeda base. However, friends and relatives say he was not harmed in the raid. The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Sanaa says Yemen has been accused of soft-pedalling on al-Qaeda and is currently under pressure from its ally the US to produce results. There have been a number of shootouts recently, but the authorities have as yet been unable to capture one of their prime targets, Mohammed al-Hanouk. However, Mr Hanouk is a member of a prominent tribal family, our correspondent says, and this suggests that the government is prepared to push hard in directions it might be easier to leave alone. 'A certain shock' Confirmation of the meeting between the alleged bomber and the cleric comes as the White House plans to publish a declassified account of the Christmas Day plot. In an interview for USA Today newspaper, National Security Adviser Gen James Jones said people would feel "a certain shock" that clues about Mr Abdulmutallab's role were not acted on. President Barack Obama "is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behaviour that were available, were not acted on", he said. Mr Obama is expected to address the nation about the incident later in the day and unveil new steps aimed at avoiding further terrorist attacks. 
 
 
 
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 StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| WASHINGTON  White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel "a certain shock" when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane. President Obama "is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on," Jones said in an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY. "That's two strikes," Obama's top White House aide on defense and foreign policy issues said, referring to the foiled bombing of the Detroit-bound airliner and the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. In that case, too, officials failed to act when red flags were raised about an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan. He has been charged with killing 13 people. Jones said Obama "certainly doesn't want that third strike, and neither does anybody else." The White House plans to release an unclassified report Thursday on what went wrong in the incident involving a 23-year-old Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight. THE OVAL: Obama not done with fallout from Christmas plot BEFORE ATTACK: Two in three favor full-body scanners, poll finds BOMB-SNIFFING DOGS: Three in Philly fail tests In Detroit Wednesday, the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was indicted on charges that include attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people. Abdulmutallab, who faces life in prison if convicted, is to appear for the first time in federal court Friday. He has told investigators that he was trained and equipped in Yemen by a group affiliated with al-Qaeda. His father had gone to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to warn American officials that his son seemed to be turning to extremist ideology. Even so, Abdulmutallab's visa to the U.S. wasn't revoked and he wasn't placed on the "no-fly" list. Jones said the remedies involve "tweaks" rather than the overhaul that followed the Sept. 11 attacks— for instance, hiring for intelligence agencies so analysts aren't overwhelmed by their workload. "We know what happened, we know what didn't happen, and we know how to fix it," Jones, a retired four-star Marine general, said in an interview in his West Wing office. "That should be an encouraging aspect. We don't have to reinvent anything to make sure it doesn't happen again." Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said a "very comprehensive no-fly list" would be "the greatest protection our country has." In an interview, she said the definition of who can be included should be expanded to include anyone about whom there is "a reasonable suspicion." Contributing: The Associated Press Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more
– The public will feel “a certain shock” at the security failures outlined in the unclassified report on the Christmas Day attack being released today, says national security adviser Jim Jones. In an interview with USA Today, Jones doesn’t downplay the miscues, saying President Obama is “legitimately and correctly alarmed” that intelligence wasn’t acted upon. Combined with the Fort Hood shooting, “that’s two strikes,” says Jones. “He certainly doesn’t want that third strike.” Meanwhile, a Yemeni official confirmed a link between those attacks, telling the BBC that alleged would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had met with radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who authorities believe was also in contact with the Fort Hood shooter. Abdulmutallab was recruited in London, the official said, then flew to Yemen to meet Awlaki. But he noted that the explosives were from Nigeria, not Yemen.