As advocates demand more full body scanners at airports following the attempted bombing of a plane on Christmas Day, reports said Saturday that Newark Liberty Airport will be the first area airport to get the machines.

Published reports said the Transportation Security Administration is ordering 150 of the scanners for U.S. airports, and that Newark's scanners will be installed at Terminal B, which handles all international arrivals and some domestic airlines.

Only 19 scanners are already in use across the country.

Critics say the scanners reveal too much of a person's body and are an invasion of privacy, but advocates say the scanners could have revealed the bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of smuggling on board Detroit-bound Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

Investigators say the bomb was in Abdulmutallab's underwear, and that he tried to set it off as the plane was preparing to land.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama blamed an affiliate of al-Qaida for the attempted attack.

In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said Abdulmutallab, seen at right being taken into custody on the plane, traveled to Yemen and joined an al-Qaida group which trained and equipped him with the explosives.

"This is not the first time this group has targeted us. In recent years, they bombed Yemeni government facilities and western hotels, restaurants and embassies, including our embassy in 2008, killing one American," said Obama. "So, as president, I've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al-Qaida terrorists."

Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane despite warnings from his father about his extremist views, and the fact that he was on a list of people with suspected terrorist ties.

Obama is set to meet with homeland security officials at the White House on Tuesday to talk about intelligence failures that allowed the Nigerian native to fly to the United States.