Terror Plot Suspect Appears in Court
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While it is impossible to know how many students in New Jersey are illegal immigrants, sponsors of the bill estimate there may be around 28,000 undocumented high school students currently in New Jersey -- Wolf.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: Shackled and burned, the suspect in the failed Christmas Day terror attack pleads not guilty. We will have a report on what happened inside the courtroom, also what happened outside. Also this hour, millions of jobs lost on President Obama's watch. He is turning back to the economy on this day, an issue that could cost him and his party on Election Day in November. And in the midst of America's deep freeze, clothes that could keep people warm are being trashed, and the garment industry which is now under fire. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM. He is arguably the most notorious terror suspect in the United States at this moment. And there are new images of him that are coming in right now. Today, reporters inside a Detroit courtroom got an up-close look at Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas. CNN's Deborah Feyerick was inside the courtroom when he entered his plea. How did it go, Deb?</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, whatever dreams of glory this young man may have had, all the indoctrination leading up to the moment, the person sitting in that court appeared defeated.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): Arriving at federal court, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab walked into the courtroom slowly and with apparent difficulty, the alleged Christmas Day suicide bomber having suffered second- and third-degree lap burns after detonating explosives hidden in his underwear. Standing before the judge, his feet were shackled, his white T- shirt and khaki pants too big for his thin frame. The public defender for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a plea of not guilty. Abdulmutallab told the judge he is on painkillers, apparently for his injuries, his lawyer saying that, despite that, Abdulmutallab understands the charges against him. They include attempting to blow up a U.S. jetliner and kill some 290 people on board. Hebba Aref was on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, sitting six rows in front of Abdulmutallab. She said it was important for her to see the proceedings firsthand.</s>HEBBA AREF, NORTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT 253 PASSENGER: He looked the same, but he had a little more actions. When I saw him on the plane, he was very blank. He didn't move. He didn't struggle.</s>FEYERICK: Several dozen people came to protest against the alleged bomber, holding signs that read Islam is not terrorism. Abdulmutallab is being represented by Detroit's chief federal defender, Miriam Siefer. She did not fight his detention.</s>FEYERICK: Now, the hearing, Wolf, took less than 10 minutes. When it was over, Abdulmutallab was led out of the courtroom surrounded by U.S. marshals, that long trip he took from Yemen to Ghana to Nigeria to Amsterdam on to the U.S. ending not in the glory he thought it would, but in a small Michigan jail cell -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Deb, thank you. This failed plot is a wakeup call for many U.S. officials. Let's bring in our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve. She's looking at this part of the story -- Jeanne.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, administration officials say they were surprised that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was at the point where it could launch an attack against the U.S. homeland. The question is, why and what is next?</s>MESERVE (voice-over): Yemen has been a very high priority of the intelligence community, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official. The U.S. was well aware of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's growing strength, but the intelligence community didn't realize the group had the operational capability to attack the U.S. homeland.</s>JOHN BRENNAN, U.S. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We had a strategic sense of sort of where they were going, but we didn't know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here.</s>MESERVE: U.S. officials knew that the group used a bomb concealed in underwear in the attempted assassination of a Saudi official, but analysts didn't marry that up with al Qaeda's interests in striking the homeland and aviation. One former intelligence officials says, like 9/11, it reflects a failure of imagination. But a current counterterrorism official rejects that comparison, saying, "We didn't have information about a specific plot. It is wrong for anyone to suggest that U.S. counterterrorism agencies didn't take a real hard look at the possibility that Yemeni extremists might try to do something abroad, to include the homeland." Thursday, the CIA announced it's increasing the number of analysts focused on Yemen and Africa.</s>CHRISTOPHER BOUCEK, MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Arabic language skills are difficult to acquire and take a long time and a lot of dedication. And it will take a long time to gear up these -- these capabilities.</s>MESERVE: Offshoots of al Qaeda are also growing in Algeria, Somalia, and elsewhere, but one expert says one region should get the lion's share of the intelligence community's attention and resources.</s>BRUCE RIEDEL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Yemen is an important subsidiary of the main al Qaeda core, but the strategic direction, overall planning, and, most importantly, the propaganda instrument remains in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And that's where we need to keep our focus and our activities.</s>MESERVE: Does the intelligence community have the capability to cover all these bases at once? A U.S. counterterrorism official says, yes, but no one is saying this will be easy, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: It will be very, very hard. And it certainly has proven to be. Thanks very much, Jeanne. Let's get to the other big threat to the United States right now. We are talking about the struggling U.S. economy. The unemployment rate remained grim last month, holding steady at 10 percent. The first year of the Obama presidency has been a rough one for workers -- 4.2 million jobs were lost in 2009, on this president's watch. Today, the president refocused on the jobs problem, still issue number one for so many millions of Americans. Let's bring in our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian. The president is trying to juggle a lot right now, between the terror threats, the economy, jobs, health care. I could go on.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is right. And the White House still believes that it is important to continue to focus on the issue of terrorism, but they do want to change the subject a bit to focus on jobs and the economy. But it is a delicate balance with political implications.</s>LOTHIAN (voice-over): Hours after a disappointing jobs report was released, President Obama freed up more stimulus money for clean- energy jobs.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to continue to explore every avenue to accelerate the return to hiring.</s>LOTHIAN: The administration, while pointing to positive trends, is under pressure, amid fears of an economic relapse.</s>ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is worried about today and worried about the future.</s>LOTHIAN: While the White House insists politics is playing no role in its big jobs push, political observers say Americans are speaking loud and clear on the issue, and their votes are crucial to Democrats in this fall's midterm elections.</s>STUART ROTHENBERG, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "THE ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT": Well, the economy, and particularly the jobs issue, continues to be the number-one question on the public's mind, so it's crucial for the administration to turn to that issue, particularly given the many months of focus on things like health care.</s>LOTHIAN: And, more recently, a focus on terrorism. The president tried to turn the corner by taking full responsibility for intelligence failures, but this topic shift to the economy and jobs must be handled delicately.</s>ROTHENBERG: You know, if the White House doesn't get it right on jobs, the economy, and terrorism, then it almost doesn't matter what it does on health care or climate change or immigration.</s>LOTHIAN: Now, the president plans to hit the road again to meet with Americans face-to-face to hear their concerns about jobs, about the economy. There is an event planned for two weeks in Ohio, and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says that there will be additional events happening in the next few weeks -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: I'm sure there will be. Thanks very much, Dan Lothian, at the White House. Most of the nation right now is under the grip of a deep freeze. Many homeless people could certainly use some extra clothes. Here is a question. Why are some businesses simply tossing bags of clothes out on the street? Wait until you hear what is going on.