Please sir, can I tell them?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....ible-terror-plot.html

What I can't understand about this, is the fact that the device was found at East Midlands Airport about 3-30am Friday.

The airport was cordoned off and the package taken away for investigation, later in the day they announced that it was not dangerous, and the cordon was lifted.

Later the airport was yet again cordoned off, and the parcel was taken away by helicopter. No official information was issued to the nation.

It took President Obama to address his nation that the package was thought to have been the work of Al Qaeda.

It was only then that our Home Secretary made an announcement, what was she waiting for, permission from the 'Big Chief' before she dare tell the British people the facts?

[anotheoldgit]

Apparently David Cameron who was in Brussels was not briefed until shortly after 2pm, 10 hours after the package was found and 16 hours after Barack Obama, the US President, was informed of the threat.

Only at 7:45pm was a statement released by Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

[jno]

the two countries would certainly have wanted to co-ordinate their response. My guess is that transparency is more ingrained in US culture than here - and also that Obama is facing elections and would have wanted to respond quickly and clearly, which Cameron had no particular reason to do, especially as he wasn't here at the time. May would presumably have had to consult him at length first. But that's only a guess.

[anotheoldgit]

/// He was not briefed until shortly after 2pm, 10 hours after the package was found and 16 hours after Barack Obama, the US President, was informed of the threat.///

http://www.telegraph....eat-for-16-hours.html

[jno]

that I cannot explain. Since the alarm was first raised by MI6 in Saudi, you'd think he would have heard about it very much sooner. But I don't see how it can have been the Americans who failed to brief him since it seems it was known about in Britain first; so I doubt, as per your original question, that he had to wait for Obama to announce the news. I would expect to see some knuckles rapped over this - except that I won't see it as it will be covered up. It looks as though we had the intelligence, we had the security staff, we found the bomb.... and then, er, nothing.

[bibblebub]

Since a device was also found on another flight perhaps trying to ensure that no others were around took precedence over public announcements.

[237SJ]

A ups cargo plane crashed in Dubai several weeks ago. It makes me wonder now if there was a link...

[jno]

shouldn't have precluded them telling Cameron, though, bibblebub. I'd like to think the PM was a bit more up to speed with what's going on in the world than George W Bush looking startled while reading a kids' book. But it seems he's not.

[Gromit]

Nit picking here slightly, but being brifed about the incident 10 hours later does not mean he was not told the news sooner. If M16 were aware of a specific threat, as appears to be the case, I am sure Cameron would have been aware of that before any device was found.
A detailed brief once more facts were known would happen later.

[anotheoldgit]

/// seemingly after new intelligence emerged.It was not until 5pm, as news broke in the US, that police formally confirmed a suspicious package had been found.///

Still seems to me that the US were holding the reins.

[bibblebub]

they were the intended target, so seems reasonable

[jno]

yes, that seems reasonable, Gromit (though it requires 'brief' to mean 'not brief'; but I'm sure any civil servant could cope with that). Even so, I wonder if he shouldn't have got the long briefing much sooner, considering one of the bombs was found here. Perhaps he was just too busy with Europe.

[anotheoldgit]

bibblebub

/// they were the intended target, so seems reasonable ///

Although the packages were addressed to Jewish Synagogues in the US, it does not necessarily mean that they were the intended target.

It has been reported that the devices were intended to activate on board the aircraft.

This being the case, it is only fair to assume that it could have exploded over British airspace.

[sandyRoe]

A parcel coming from Yemen and addressed to a synagogue in the Presidents home town might arouse even the dullest searcher's suspicions.

[boxtops]

It seems from today's news that the parcels were on flights from Sana'a in the Yemen, and a further 30 similar packages are being investigated.

[bibblebub]

/// It has been reported that the devices were intended to activate on board the aircraft. ///

I apologise, I forgot that if it's in the Mail then it must be true.

[anotheoldgit]

bibblebub

/// I apologise, I forgot that if it's in the Mail then it must be true.///

Rant all you like about the Daily Mail, but please do some research before you post rather silly sarcastic comments, such as the above.

The 'FACTS' that I posted have been widely reported across all the media.

http://tinyurl.com/2a2cewt

I notice that you didn't address the real reason I set the question, why all the initial delays by the British authorities?

To save you researching read this report,

http://tinyurl.com/2c6bnno

beginning:

/// There were also questions last night about the confused response from British police, who were only prompted to admit the package had been found after reports emerged in the US - 13 hours after the event.///

[boxtops]

Re exploding over the UK, I heard on the TV news last night that was indeed a possibility - source was not the DM.

[bibblebub]

http://www.nytimes.co...31terror.html?_r=1&hp

"But earlier in the day, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House homeland security intelligence subcommittee, said that federal authorities indicated to him that the packages were probably intended to blow up the Jewish sites in Chicago rather than the cargo planes, since they do not carry passengers."

There's the other side of the targetting aspect.

[bibblebub]

And the reason for the initial delay was that searches were done, nothing found and things went back to normal, until the the authorities were told that the intelligence sources were impeccable and so they had to do more thorough searches, which is when they actually found the devices.

[fredpuli47]

Ah well, what intelligence reports any government has, and at what time, will always be kept secret, wholly or in part, and what emerges may suggest any number of things, from incompetence to perfection. It's difficult to judge from what we are allowed to know and from what 'leaks' (true leaks and authorized ones both) we get, exactly what the true position is or was.
But AOG. I'm sure that the British government is entirely controlled in its policies by Obama and/or, by the EU and, probably,by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.