Umar Mutallab Cooperates With FBI; His Family Helped

White House Reveals Secret Cooperation With Abdul Mutallab's Family


Senior Obama administration officials revealed late Tuesday they've secretly gained the cooperation of family members of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to help get the Christmas Day airline bomb suspect talking.

The cooperation effort has led to actionable intelligence that could help prevent terror attempts on U.S. soil, the senior officials said.

The revelation is part of an aggressive attempt by the White House to push back on Republican claims the Obama administration mishandled the terror investigation, with AbdulMutallab being read his Miranda rights shortly after he began cooperating with investigators.

After giving the U.S. some information in the early stages of the probe, AbdulMutallab stopped talking about his attempt to blow up an airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear.

The senior administration officials disclosed that on January 1, just days after the attempted terror attack, two FBI agents secretly flew to Lagos, Nigeria, to meet with officials of the CIA and the State Department. They began an extensive investigation and tried to work with AbdulMutallab's family in hopes of gaining his cooperation.

The U.S. officials later traveled to Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, and eventually gained the trust of two unidentified relatives of the suspect.

On January 17, the FBI agents secretly flew back to the U.S. with the two relatives in order to work with the suspect.

One senior Obama administration official said the family members privately conveyed to the suspect they "had complete trust in the U.S. system" and they believed he "would be treated fairly" by the Obama administration.

The senior administration officials said that since AbdulMutallab began talking to investigation again last week, he has been cooperating on a daily basis. The officials added the information gained from the interrogations has been disseminated throughout the intelligence community.

One of the senior Obama officials, who bluntly said the Republican attacks have "frustrated the hell out of me," asserted that gaining the trust of the family was the best way to handle the case and helped the administration gain valuable intelligence from the suspect, who is believed to have ties to an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

"It could be used to disrupt other attacks," one of the senior Obama officials said of the intelligence gleaned from AbdulMutallab in the interrogations, who added the president has been getting regular updates on what the suspect has been revealing.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, charged Saturday in the GOP weekly radio and Internet address that the White House botched the handling of AbdulMutallab.

"The Obama administration appears to have a blind spot when it comes to the war on terrorism," she said.

In releasing the new information, senior administration officials were direct about saying they're trying to show the case has been handled properly and the Obama administration is doing all it can to keep the country safe from future attacks.

One of the senior administration officials said, "We are in a very active war against al Qaeda" and "very experienced individuals who know what they're doing" are handling the interrogations well, despite the charges by Republicans.

"We'll leave it to them, not politicians in Washington," said this senior administration official.

A second senior administration official suggested that the U.S. did not lose any valuable intelligence by taking extra time to get the suspect's cooperation through his family.

Pressed on reports suggesting the intelligence being gained in the new interrogations is not stale, this second official said: "I would not disagree with that at all."

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U.S. Says Airline Terror Suspect Cooperating


The Nigerian man accused of trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day has been cooperating with investigators since last week and has provided fresh intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials said Tuesday.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's cooperation could prove to be a national security victory and a political vindication for President Barack Obama, who has been under fire from lawmakers who contend the administration botched the case by giving Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, rather than interrogating him as a military prisoner.

In the days following the failed bombing, a pair of FBI agents flew to Nigeria and persuaded Abdulmutallab's family to help them. When the agents returned to the U.S., Abdulmutallab's family came, too, according to a senior administration official briefed on the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

FBI officials continue to question Abdulmutallab, working in collaboration with CIA and other intelligence authorities, the official said. Obama has received regular updates on the interrogation, according to the official.

While the interrogation continued, White House and intelligence officials quietly seethed as political rivals accused them of putting lives at risk. That criticism peaked last weekend when Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, in the weekly Republican address, accused the administration of having "a blind spot when it comes to the war on terrorism."

Collins said the administration "undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to our country."

Valuable information

Authorities had hoped to keep Abdulmutallab's cooperation secret while they continued to investigate his leads, but details began to trickle out during testimony on Capitol Hill, where FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair confirmed authorities continued to get intelligence in Abdulmutallab's case.

"It is also my understanding that Mr. Abdulmutallab has provided valuable information. Is that correct?" Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked.

"Yes," Mueller replied.

"Thank you," Feinstein said, "and that the interrogation continues despite the fact that he has been Mirandized?"

"Yes," Mueller said again.

In Detroit, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left with Abdulmutallab's lawyer, Miriam Siefer.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, politicians and the courts have wrangled with the thorny question of how to treat suspected terrorists. The Supreme Court has not weighed in on whether the government has the right to hold a civilian as a military prisoner, and both times it appeared the court would get the chance to decide, President George W. Bush opted instead to bring the cases in civilian criminal courts.

Also unsettled is which system is better for gathering intelligence. The Bush administration, which authorized secret CIA prisons for interrogations, also repeatedly used the U.S. court system to prosecute terrorists. Some detainees at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have provided valuable intelligence, while others have refused to cooperate.

Some suspects in the criminal system refuse to talk once they have a lawyer. Others, like Abdulmutallab, can be persuaded to keep talking.



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