Obama vows to improve intelligence-sharing system

The Obama administration based its assertions on the early findings of two inquires into what it calls the "human and systemic failures" that took place in the approach to the attempt to blow up a plane carrying nearly 300 people from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas. A Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, has been charged in the incident.

The administration would not release the conclusions but said Obama will hold meetings next week aimed at getting the tangle of government agencies responsible for fighting terrorism to more diligently assess and share information.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she would send senior department officials to meet with leaders from major international airports in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America to review security procedures and technology being used to screen passengers on U.S.-bound flights.

Senior administration and intelligence officials said the inquiries' preliminary findings show that in some cases, systemic problems, including a lack of interagency coordination, prevented key pieces of information from being shared or matched up.

But in other cases, intelligence analysts simply didn't connect the disparate pieces already in their computer databases that could have flagged Abdulmutallab and stopped him from boarding Northwest Flight 253, according to officials familiar with the investigation.