As the Obama administration continues to react to a Nigerian man's attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, there's a question that ought to be on the minds of Americans now and in the days ahead.

That's whether the president really will stick to his stern pledge to ensure an appropriate level of cooperation and information-sharing between the nation's intelligence agencies as a means for heading off future terrorist attacks.

Americans can recall the findings after Sept. 11, 2001, that the intelligence agencies, dedicated to their own fiefdoms, had withheld from one another data that might have proven valuable in ascertaining that a terrorist mission of that scope was in the works.

Whether cooperation would in the end have had the ability to defuse the terrorist mission is anyone's guess. But the nation's intelligence agencies should be in close touch with one another on suspected terrorist activity, not be operating as separate islands within their responsibility to protect this nation.

Now comes Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who on Christmas Day tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with an explosive hidden in his underwear — a near-catastrophic attempt that was thwarted by the plane's passengers.

And now, with that having occurred, Americans, from President Barack Obama, are hearing a message that they heard from former President George W. Bush in the days after 9/11. That message is that cooperation between U.S. intelligence agencies would be beefed up.

Obama promised wider and quicker distribution of intelligence reports and stronger analyses of those reports. But will that really happen without some top-personnel changes at the intelligence agencies to instill a more cooperative mind-set?

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was poised to succeed in his deadly mission despite some U.S. intelligence officials knowing that an al-Qaida operative in Yemen posed a threat to U.S. security. That near-success became possible because the intelligence officials in question did not increase their attention regarding that threat and did not pull together the fragments of data that could have foiled the scheme early on.

Bush failed in his promise of ensuring the kind of close intelligence agency cooperation that is needed to identify and thwart terrorist plots.

Obama must not fail in that endeavor, no matter what leadership changes might be necessary in the various intelligence agencies to bring the president's goal to reality.

Based on the findings since the Christmas Day incident, airline passengers are justified in feeling uneasy.

— J.R.K.