Airplane bomb suspect said cooperating with U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is again cooperating and providing useful intelligence to U.S. authorities, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday.

The Obama administration has been widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats because the suspect was interviewed by FBI agents for about an hour before he stopped cooperating and he was then read Miranda rights, providing him full U.S. constitutional legal rights.

Prosecutors charged Abdulmutallab, 23, with trying to blow up the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear, drawing further criticism from some lawmakers who said he should face a special military tribunal instead and questioning by intelligence operatives instead of the FBI.

"Abdulmutallab is talking and has been talking since last week providing useful, actionable and current intelligence that we've been actively following up on," the official said, declining to be named because the investigation is ongoing.

The FBI is working with the intelligence community on the information obtained from Abdulmutallab, the official said.

If convicted, Abdulmutallab could face spending the rest of his life in a U.S. prison, which could provide an incentive for him to cooperate with investigators.

The criticism has put the Obama administration on the defensive, but the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told lawmakers that there should be flexibility to make decisions on a case-by-case basis about whether such suspects go through civilian or military legal process.

Before Abdulmutallab stopped talking, administration officials have said he initially provided useful information.

That included telling investigators that he had received training as well as the explosive device he tried to detonate on the plane from militants in Yemen associated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

That group has become a significant concern to U.S. intelligence agencies which are monitoring its capabilities, intentions and recruitment of westerners, Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"We are still exploring the genesis of this plot and what other homeland plots AQAP and associated Yemeni extremists may have planned," he said.

"We are concerned that they will continue to try to do so, but we do not know to what extent they are willing to direct core cadre to that effort given the group's prior focus on regional operations," Blair said.

INTELLIGENCE GAPS FIXED-BLAIR

Blair also said he was confident that gaps had been fixed since the December 25 incident and that another similar suspect would be apprehended before he got on the plane.

"I'm confident that someone who left the trail that Mr. Abdulmutallab did would now be found," Blair said. "What I can't tell is even with these improvements we would be able to catch someone who took more care."

In an audiotape aired recently on Al Jazeera television, a man purporting to be al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden praised Abdulmutallab and vowed more strikes at the United States.

Bin Laden has eluded a U.S. manhunt and authorities believe he has been hiding in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"My greatest concern, and what keeps me awake at night, is that al Qaeda and its terrorist allies and affiliates could very well attack the United States," CIA Director Leon Panetta said at the same hearing.

The biggest threat is not necessarily another attack similar to September 11, but that al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways often difficult to detect, he said.

Al Qaeda is trying to strike the United States by deploying individuals to the country, and the concern is the group will use people with "clean credentials" who don't have a history of terrorism such as Abdulmutallab who had a visa, Panetta said.

"I think they're going to be looking for other opportunities like that," he said.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)