Napolitano Sending DHS Officials Overseas To Coordinate With International Airports

Top Homeland Security officials next week will do international outreach at major international airports in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America as the U.S. government continues to probe how a Nigerian man with explosives in his underwear was able to board a trans-Atlantic flight.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced in a statement this afternoon that Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute, Assistant Secretary for Policy David Heyman and other senior DHS officials to the airports. They will review security procedures and technology being used to screen passengers on flights bound for the United States, she said.

"As part of the ongoing review to determine exactly what went wrong leading up to Friday's attempted terrorist attack, we are looking not only at our own processes, but also beyond our borders to ensure effective aviation security measures are in place for U.S-bound flights that originate at international airports," Napolitano said.

She said the officials will find ways to "collectively bolster our tactics for defeating terrorists wherever they may seek to launch an attack" and said she will follow-up with them in meetings in January.

President Obama received a preliminary review today that sources say will reveal communication and process breakdown within the intelligence community before the incident.