President Obama will meet with 20 top advisers and Cabinet members in the Situation Room today about the review into how a man with explosives in his underwear was allowed to board Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
An administration official told TPMDC that Obama will receive several updates in that meeting.
FBI Director Robert Mueller will update the president on the investigation. Attorney General Eric Holder will discuss the prosecution. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will update Obama on the detection capabilities review he ordered immediately following the failed terror attempt.
Obama also asked for a review of the watchlisting procedures (more on that here) and will be briefed today by Homeland Security adviser John Brennan.
The administration official said Brennan will lay out his initial findings, and each agency head will detail their internal reviews and reforms they’ve put in place so far “as a result of lessons already learned from the incident on Christmas Day.”
When Obama returned from his Hawaiian vacation on Monday, he met with Brennan, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, and Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon. Obama told aides he appreciates the progress of the reviews, the first of which he received Thursday.
Obama will speak to the press after the Situation Room meeting to discuss what the group told him and outline “an initial series of reforms to improve our watchlisting system as well as our ability to thwart future attempts to carry out terrorist attacks,” the official said.
Later today Obama will meet with House and Senate Democratic leadership in the Oval Office and via conference call.
The full list of expected Situation Room attendees can be found here.
