An angry President Barack Obama said Tuesday that there had been "unacceptable" failures in the American intelligence system that allowed a terrorism suspect to board a U.S.-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day and vowed changes in security procedures and information- gathering to avert future plots.

The president addressed top administration officials in unusually blunt terms during a lengthy afternoon session in which agency heads acknowledged their shortcomings and laid plans for corrections.

"This was a screwup that could have been disastrous," Obama told the officials, White House officials said later. "We dodged a bullet, but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals, not because the system worked, and that is not acceptable."

Administration officials did not rule out the possibility of firings over the incident, although Obama admonished White House staff members and Cabinet chiefs in the closed session not to engage in "finger-pointing" in the failures, White House officials said.

Obama, speaking publicly later, outlined the role of two key reviews - of airline screening procedures and U.S. intelligence - and said findings and new security measures would be announced in the coming days.

While Obama did not specify changes affecting travelers, a national security official said Tuesday that some steps would be reminiscent of the period after Sept. 11, 2001, when travelers confronted bewildering new procedures and tightened security.

Since the Christmas Day incident, federal officials have mobilized on several fronts in an effort likely to bring harder borders, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"There will be a scrub of everything, including visas," the official said. "More and more, it might go back somewhat to the way it was in the years right after 9/11, and people might complain about it."

The aftermath of the failed attack is pushing the Department of Homeland Security to intensify its focus on terrorism, the issue that led to the creation of a vast federal department with an array of enforcement duties and 230,000 employees, officials said.

"Talk about a wake-up call," the national security official said. "This has been a stark reminder to DHS about why they were created. Terrorism is going to be a larger focus of DHS and its component agencies. ... That means more resources and people looking at visas, airports and ports, financial crimes with terrorist links."

On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano dispatched two top aides - Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute, her top intelligence official, and Assistant Secretary for Policy David Heyman - on a worldwide outreach effort to improve aviation security for U.S.-bound flights.

The two officials met with counterparts in Amsterdam, where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight, took off.

Western counterterrorism officials have identified Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport as a hub for travel of suspected extremists, including American militants headed to join fighters in Somalia, according to counterterrorism officials.

Although security at the airport is considered good, previous cases suggest that extremists see the Netherlands as comparatively soft because of laws that restrict anti-terror enforcement, according to U.S. and European antiterrorism officials.

The itinerary of Napolitano's deputies includes Britain, Belgium, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia, Nigeria and Brazil.

Their goal is to lay the groundwork for agreements to improve security technology and policies, according to a Homeland Security official who requested anonymity because the larger review is not complete. Countries such as Britain are already proposing to implement full-body scanners at airports.

The discussions overseas are also likely to focus on increased sharing of information about airline passengers. That issue has been a point of contention with the 26- country European Union. For years, European governments have cited strict privacy laws in resisting U.S. requests for more details about travelers departing from Europe.

There has been tension with other countries as well. Last year, the Turkish government rebuffed a request from the FBI to share data on travelers passing through Turkey, a crossroads for extremists going to and from hot spots that include Iraq, Syria, Iran, Pakistan and Chechnya, according to the national security official and other sources.