Critics say that full-body scanners are costly, invasive, and will slow airport security further. The Puffer and the Guardian are alternatives, though not yet fully developed.

Republicans have focused blame for the security failures of Northwest Flight 253 on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. But there are other reasons that many conservatives are dissatisfied with her.

Yemenis are the largest group of Guantánamo detainees. But key senators want to halt further transfers to Yemen in light of the Chistmas airline attack, which has been linked to Al Qaeda operatives there.

AP - The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a remote outpost in southeastern Afghanistan had been invited onto the base and had not been searched, two former U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

AP - Hundreds of thousands of revelers in chilly weather in Times Square cheered when an 11,875-pound crystal ball covered with more than 32,000 bulbs dropped at midnight, ushering in the new decade and ending 10 years marred by war, recession, terrorism and threats of environmental catastrophe.