VOA标准英语2010年-Obama Cites Intel Failures In Attempte

U.S. President Barack Obama says the United States had enough information to uncover the plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner¹ on Christmas Day, but failed to put all the bits and pieces of intelligence together.  Mr. Obama spoke² after a long meeting with his Cabinet and national security team.

President Obama says the U.S. intelligence community had information leading to a possible terrorist strike on American targets.   But he says no one put all the elements together.

"The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and to potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack," said President Obama. "But our intelligence community failed to connect those dots."

He says the intelligence community must and will do better, saying American lives are at stake.

"I will accept that intelligence by its nature is imperfect," said Mr. Obama. "But it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully³ analyzed⁴ or fully leveraged⁵.  That is not acceptable. And I will not tolerate it."

The president spoke after a lengthy⁶ meeting with key cabinet and agency heads involved in all aspects of aviation security and counter-terrorism.

President Barack Obama meets with his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House, 05 Jan 2010

He said they looked at results of two studies he ordered shortly after the attempted attack: a review of airline screening procedures and another on the computerized government lists of individuals who might pose a security risk.

"I made it clear today to my team that I want our initial reviews completed this week," said President Obama. "I want specific recommendations for corrective actions to fix what went wrong.  I want those reforms implemented⁷ immediately so that this doesn't happen again and so we can prevent future attacks."

The president has said those responsible for security lapses⁸ will be held accountable.  But in his brief comments at the White House, he made no mention of any punitive⁹ action.   

Earlier, spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked if the president still has full confidence in Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair.

"He does and those agencies will continue to take part in this review process and we'll continue to find out what happened," said Robert Gibbs.

White House officials have also made clear they will not revisit plans to close the U.S. detention¹⁰ center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Several detainees returned to Yemen from Guantanamo Bay are now known to have links to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which has been linked to the attempted airline attack.   President Obama said there will be no further transfers to Yemen for now, but Guantanamo will be shut down.

"Make no mistake," said Mr. Obama. "We will close Guantanamo prison which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al-Qaida."

The president vowed¹¹ once again to defeat, dismantle¹² and destroy al-Qaida.  He said just as the terrorists adapt to changing conditions, so will the United States.

1 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 leveraged   

促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• Chrysler has traditionally been a highly leveraged company. 克莱斯勒一向是一家周转十分灵活的公司。
• Leveraged recaps have become popular for a number of reasons. 杠杆资本重组的大行其道有好几个原因。

6 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

7 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

8 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

9 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

10 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

11 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

12 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。