CNN is reporting the US has begun selecting sites in Yemen to attack if President Obama orders a retaliatory strike in the aftermath of the botched Christmas Day airline bombing. US Special Operations Forces and spies are said to be already inside Yemen and working with their Yemeni counterparts to target members of al-Qaeda. CNN also revealed the existence of a new classified agreement between the two countries that allows the US to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets and armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of the Yemeni government. Under the agreement, the US will remain publicly silent on its military and intelligence actions in Yemen. Investigators are still probing the connections between the failed attack and members of al-Qaeda in Yemen. The alleged airline bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was in Yemen up until earlier this month. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the Nigerian-born bomber was likely radicalized during his time in Britain, not Yemen. From 2005 until earlier this year, he studied at the University College London.