Delta chief to demand D.C. do better job on security

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines' chief is upset the 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard Flight 253 were put at risk by a suspected terrorist despite the carrier's compliance with government security measures.

CEO Richard Anderson told employees in a recorded message that airlines have done everything the government has asked since 9/11 to follow advanced passenger notification requirements and heightened screening measures.

He said that should have brought a better result than the peril those aboard the Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Detroit faced. Delta will insist Washington do a better job.

"Having this occur again is disappointing to all of us," Anderson said. He added, "You can be certain we will make our points very clearly in Washington."

According to authorities, a Nigerian man who said he was an agent for al-Qaida tried and failed to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land. Delta owns Northwest.

Anderson said the crew aboard the flight will receive commendations from the airline next week "for their diligence and the work they did to make sure everybody got to Detroit safely." He did not elaborate. Delta is offering travel credits to the passengers on the flight.

Meantime, President Barack Obama is reviewing reports from homeland security officials as his administration tries to determine what U.S. policy and personnel failures preceded the attempted Detroit jetliner bombing. And Democrats have joined a chorus led by Obama in declaring the government's intelligence procedures in need of repair. Among them, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said that when the government gets tipped to trouble as it did before a 23-year-old Nigerian man boarded the Northwest Airlines jet with explosives, "someone's hair should be on fire."

One senior administration official told reporters traveling with the vacationing president: "The failure to share that information is not going to be tolerated."

The official, like others involved in the reviews, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence discussions.

The Senate Intelligence Committee announced Jan. 21 hearings as part of an investigation to begin sooner. "We will be following the intelligence down the rabbit hole to see where the breakdown occurred and how to prevent this failure in the future," said Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, top Republican on the committee. "Somebody screwed up big time."

Few questioned that judgment, even if some Democrats rendered it in more measured tones.