Analyst's note:  How can this be?  Our federal gov't has already announced that al-Qaida is defanged and the war "War on Terror" is over.  Perhaps we should have a new federal regulation requiring all (males & females) from Islamic countries who visit the U.S. to wear no more than thongs as their only under garment ... their only shoes should be open toed sandles.  Think about it.  This would provide TSA with the right to "profile" and it would also assure smaller bombs.  Going through the current "let me see" machinery would no longer be required, so this would also save significant money and time.

"The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, The Associated Press has learned.

The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger’s underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.

[....] It’s not clear who built the bomb, but, because of its sophistication and its similarity to the Christmas bomb, authorities suspected it was the work of master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Al-Asiri constructed the first underwear bomb and two others that al-Qaida built into printer cartridges and shipped to the U.S. on cargo planes in 2010.

[...] The operation is an intelligence victory for the United States and a reminder of al-Qaida’s ambitions, despite the death of bin Laden and other senior leaders. Because of instability in the Yemeni government, the terrorist group’s branch there has gained territory and strength. It has set up terrorist camps and, in some areas, even operates as a de facto government.[....]"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy