New Counterterrorist Teams To Seek Out Plots -- Politics Daily

The nation's counterterrorism agency is hiring dozens of intelligence analysts to staff new teams of specialists charged with seeking out emerging terrorist plots, it was reported Friday.

The staff build-up at the National Counterterrorism Center comes in response to the failings of several federal agencies before the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian man with explosives sewn into his underwear, according to The New York Times.

The center's director, Michael Leiter, told the House Homeland Security Committee this week that the new so-called "pursuit teams" will focus on threats from countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa where al-Qaeda has a foothold.

"We've been very good at chasing down those threats that come out of Afghanistan and Pakistan," Leiter said. "We're going to be better now at chasing down those small bits of information that come out of Yemen or North Africa or East Africa."