Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Colin Hanna's misinterpretation of the Constitution ("Undeserved protections", Jan. 24) regarding criminal trials for terrorists like bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is stunning in its audacity. Conservatives like Mr. Hanna usually bill themselves as strict constructionists, adhering to the plain words of the document when the Second Amendment is in question. I invite Mr. Hanna and others of similar persuasion to apply the same standard to the rest of the Bill of Rights.

It's difficult to know whether to feel more alarmed or relieved by the news that the FBI today arrested a man who they say intended to detonate a car bomb outside a military recruiting station in Catonsville. As in a case in Portland, Ore., in which a young man has been charged with trying to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, officials say they had been tracking the suspect in the Catonsville case, a recent convert to Islam named Antonio Martinez, and had provided him with bogus explosives that posed no harm to the public.

Offering new details into the Christmas Day attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner, President Barack Obama on Saturday said a Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida trained, armed and directed the Nigerian accused of trying to detonate an explosive onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The president vowed retaliation against the global terrorist group, and he gave a full-throated defense of his administration's anti-terrorism efforts in the face of...

Here's an alternative for conservative hard-liners who insist the only way to get actionable intelligence out of terrorist suspects is to beat, torture and starve them into submission: Fly in their families and get them to persuade reluctant detainees to cooperate. That's reportedly what the Obama administration did with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber who allegedly tried to blow up an international flight over Detroit on Christmas Day. After being confronted by his mom, dad and a bevy of kinfolk, the 23-year-old would-be mass murderer capitulated and started telling interrogators things they wanted to know.

T he arrest on Christmas day of a Nigerian man suspected of trying to blow up a commercial airliner en route from Amsterdam to Detroit with nearly 300 people aboard was a stark reminder that the nation can't afford to let down its guard in the struggle against Islamic extremism. The suspect, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to detonate explosives concealed in his underwear shortly before the plane landed, but the device fizzled and started a fire instead, allowing alert fellow passengers to tackle him and douse the flames.

Here's an alternative for conservative hard-liners who insist the only way to get actionable intelligence out of terrorist suspects is to beat, torture and starve them into submission: Fly in their families and get them to persuade reluctant detainees to cooperate. That's reportedly what the Obama administration did with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber who allegedly tried to blow up an international flight over Detroit on Christmas Day. After being confronted by his mom, dad and a bevy of kinfolk, the 23-year-old would-be mass murderer capitulated and started telling interrogators things they wanted to know.

U.S. counter-terrorism agencies are investigating whether an American-born Islamic cleric who has risen to become a key figure in the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen played a role in the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing over Detroit, intelligence and law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Intercepts and other information point to connections between the terrorism suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Anwar al-Awlaki - who also communicated with the accused U.S. Army gunman in last month's attack on Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 people dead.

U.S. counterterrorism officials were looking at possible connections Saturday between al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen and a 23-year-old Nigerian man charged with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines plane on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. According to a criminal complaint and FBI affidavit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carried a destructive device aboard Flight 253 on Christmas Day in what authorities said was an attempted terrorist attack that could have killed all 290 people aboard.

T he 84-year-old father of one of my employees was recently detained at an airport for 10 minutes because he had trimmed the edge of his driver's license so it would fit inside his wallet. Yet on Christmas Day, a 23-year-old Nigerian on a comprehensive terror watch list - whose father warned U.S. authorities of his radical religious views and who paid cash for his ticket and checked no baggage - boarded an international flight for Detroit, apparently without so much as a second glance.

Al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen has emerged as the "foremost concern" for U.S. spy agencies after the group was tied to two attacks in the United States last year, according to a sweeping new assessment of the global terrorist threat issued by the nation's top intelligence officer Tuesday. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair testified that American spy agencies have intensified surveillance of the al-Qaida affiliate's operations amid concern that the group - once considered a regional menace - is focused on the "recruitment of Westerners or other individuals with access to the U.S. homeland."

Al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen has emerged as the "foremost concern" for U.S. spy agencies after the group was tied to two attacks in the United States last year, according to a sweeping new assessment of the global terrorist threat issued by the nation's top intelligence officer Tuesday. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair testified that American spy agencies have intensified surveillance of the al-Qaida affiliate's operations amid concern that the group - once considered a regional menace - is focused on the "recruitment of Westerners or other individuals with access to the U.S. homeland."

Colin Hanna's misinterpretation of the Constitution ("Undeserved protections", Jan. 24) regarding criminal trials for terrorists like bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is stunning in its audacity. Conservatives like Mr. Hanna usually bill themselves as strict constructionists, adhering to the plain words of the document when the Second Amendment is in question. I invite Mr. Hanna and others of similar persuasion to apply the same standard to the rest of the Bill of Rights.

I n a recent New York Times op-ed, journalist Michael Kinsley suggests a system for deciding how to try people like the alleged Christmas Day underpants bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Mr. Kinsley suggests that our national border is the "bright line" that alone should determine whether suspects like Mr. Abdulmutallab are tried in U.S. criminal courts or in military courts. He argues that people captured within the U.S., regardless of their citizenship status, should be tried in U.S. courts with the same rights as U.S. citizens.

T he 84-year-old father of one of my employees was recently detained at an airport for 10 minutes because he had trimmed the edge of his driver's license so it would fit inside his wallet. Yet on Christmas Day, a 23-year-old Nigerian on a comprehensive terror watch list - whose father warned U.S. authorities of his radical religious views and who paid cash for his ticket and checked no baggage - boarded an international flight for Detroit, apparently without so much as a second glance.

T he arrest on Christmas day of a Nigerian man suspected of trying to blow up a commercial airliner en route from Amsterdam to Detroit with nearly 300 people aboard was a stark reminder that the nation can't afford to let down its guard in the struggle against Islamic extremism. The suspect, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to detonate explosives concealed in his underwear shortly before the plane landed, but the device fizzled and started a fire instead, allowing alert fellow passengers to tackle him and douse the flames.

W hen a prominent Nigerian banker goes so far as to phone an American embassy in October and warn officials about his son's radical views, his disappearance and travel to Yemen, one might assume that U.S. officials would, at minimum, put the young man's name on the no-fly list and revoke his visa. But as has become clear since 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested after his alleged attempt to blow up a passenger jet headed to Detroit on Christmas day, that didn't happen.