from Amsterdam , Netherlands , to Detroit , Michigan , with explosives in his underwear . Meanwhile , the Transportation Security Administration announced Sunday new security measures to be implemented by domestic and international air carriers on flights bound for the United States , effective Monday . The suspect 's father , a leading banker in Nigeria , warned U.S. authorities before the attack that his son might be involved with Islamic extremists . Brennan said the father 's information was part of `` bits and pieces '' of information that were never connected by intelligence officials to properly target the suspect . `` That was certainly an alert that came to our attention , '' Brennan said of the father 's warnings . `` He said , ` He 's consorting with extremists in Yemen . ' '' However , Brennan rejected another potential warning sign -- that the suspect purchased the airline ticket with cash in Ghana before traveling to Nigeria for the first leg of his journey . `` A lot of people buy their tickets in Africa with cash . That is the way , in fact , things are done , because there 's so
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Human error and system lapses , rather than deliberate concealing of information , allowed a terror suspect with explosives to board a U.S.-bound airplane on Christmas Day , President Obama 's terrorism czar said Sunday . John Brennan , the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism , said on CNN 's `` State of the Union '' that the security breakdown in the failed bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight was different from the September 11 , 2001 , terror attacks . `` It 's not like 9/11 , '' Brennan said , adding that the `` system did n't work as it should have '' due to `` lapses '' and `` human error . '' `` There was n't an effort to try to conceal information , '' he said , referring to the well-chronicled competition and turf wars among security agencies prior to the 2001 attacks , which was later blamed for the failure to prevent them . `` There is no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there , '' Brennan said of the failed Christmas bombing , allegedly planned by a Nigerian man who boarded the flight