US Congress staff to do Christmas bomber probe

Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairman, said the trip would gather information ahead of a January 27 hearing on a young Nigerian man's attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner.
The visit will "provide insights on information sharing infrastructure, the watchlisting process, and passenger screen technologies," Thompson said in a statement.
US lawmakers have been sharply critical of the failures that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to get aboard a crowded US-bound airliner, allegedly looking to blow it up with a potent explosive sewn into his underwear.
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