President Barack Obama spoke to reporters about the Christmas Day attack Tuesday. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed Thursday on how a 23-year-old Nigerian with suspected terrorist ties almost succeeded in a Christmas Day airline bombing and how to prevent it from happening again.

Obama received the preliminary report ahead of meetings in Washington next week on fixing the shortcomings and failures of the country's anti-terrorism policy. Administration officials said the system to protect the nation's skies from terrorists was deeply flawed and, even then, the government failed to follow its own directives.

Vacationing in Hawaii, Obama talked with his national security team about progress they were making on a pair of Obama-ordered reviews.

The preliminary report was expected to focus on the failure of intelligence agencies to put together various strands of information about suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, according to U.S. officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been presented.

Abdulmutallab boarded a plane travelling from Lagos, Nigeria, to Detroit on Christmas Day. He is accused of trying to detonate an explosive device as the plane began its descent. Fellow passengers were able to stop him before he completed the detonation.

Yemeni officials confirmed this week that Abdulmutallab had been studying Arabic at a local language institute in Yemen this summer.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the government had information from Yemen before Christmas that a branch of al-Qaeda was preparing "a Nigerian" for a terrorist attack. The intelligence did not include the name of the Nigerian, the Times said.

Abdulmutallab's name had, in fact, been put into an expansive database of suspect individuals, but he never made it onto more restrictive lists that would have caught the attention of U.S. security officials — even though his father warned U.S. Embassy officials in Nigeria about Abdulmutallab last month.

"Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence, and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged," Obama told reporters Tuesday. "The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America."

A U.S. intelligence official, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said earlier this week that Abdulmutallab's father didn't provide sufficient information to earn him a spot on the no-fly list.

"Abdulmutallab's father didn't say his son was a terrorist, let alone planning an attack," the official said.

"I'm not aware of some magic piece of intelligence that suddenly would have flagged this guy - whose name nobody even had until November - as a killer en route to America, let alone something that anybody withheld."

Intelligence authorities are examining conversations between Abdulmutallab and at least one al-Qaeda member, according to U.S. officials. The conversations were vague or coded, but members of the intelligence community believe, in hindsight, that they concerned the Christmas Day attack.

It will take weeks for a more comprehensive investigation into how Abdulmutallab was able to board the airliner.

Yemeni officials failed to detain suspect

Yemeni immigration authorities should have detained Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after his visa expired, officials said. (U.S. Marshal's Service/Associated Press)

Officials in Yemen said Abdulmutallab should have been stopped by airport authorities in Yemen because his visa had expired months before the Christmas Day flight.

Abdulmutallab had been in Yemen studying Arabic periodically since 2004. His most recent visa was valid from Aug. 4 to Sept. 21, according to Yemeni officials.

After his visa expired, Abdulmutallab stayed illegally somewhere in the country until the first week of December.

The officials, who were not formally authorized to speak to media, said Yemen's airport and passport control authorities should have prevented Abdulmutallab from departing.

Administrators at the school where Abdulmutallab studied believed he had left the country in September, they said.

"We arranged a taxi to take him to the airport on Sept. 2, and we said goodbye," school director Muhammad al-Anisi told The Associated Press. "Our responsibility toward him ended that day."

Al-Anisi said no one from immigration contacted the school after Abdulmutallab's visa had expired.

An investigation is currently underway examining why the Nigerian man wasn't detained and questioned.