"Based on the criteria, he fell below the line and went into our database, but not a watch list or no-fly list, and his visa wasn't revoked based on the analysis of the threat," one senior official said. "We have a new standard now, which will allow us to capture more people."
Under the new standard, officials said, AbdulMutallab would have been put on a no-fly list and his visa likely would have been revoked...
Since the attempted attack, the intelligence community has scrubbed the entire Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database of more than 500,000 suspects with the new criteria, adding additional individuals to the U.S. watch lists and no-fly lists as a result. Several visas have also been revoked...
But the officials suggested the new standard is much lower than before December 25. For example, decisions could be taken to put someone on a no-fly list or a watch list based on one credible source, instead of the previous standard of using multiple sources.
They are trying to make people happy that they've made their standards more stringent without simultaneously doing something thoughtless like banning the whole 500,000 person list from airplanes. I think this is the best you could ask for from a political perspective... Its hard to arm chair quarterback it from a security standpoint without more information.
