Mr Obama has ordered new terrorist-watch-list guidelines, wider and quicker distribution of intelligence reports and stronger analysis of those reports.
There will also be increased screening of passengers and baggage using more advanced technologies, including explosive-detection equipment.
Mr Obama has declared the responsibility for intelligence flaws stops with him, but the failure to prevent the botched terror attack was not the fault of a single individual or agency.
US intelligence failed to identify the threat posed by 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas day.
"I'm less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer," Mr Obama said.
"As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people and when the system fails, it is my responsibility.
"In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary."
Mr Obama announced the changes to US security and intelligence after declassifying a summary of the report into the terrorism attempt.
The report shows that although intelligence officials knew an Al Qaeda operative in Yemen posed a threat to US security, they did not increase their focus on that threat.
The report also shows intelligence did not pull together the fragments of information needed to anticipate and prevent the attempted bombing.
Mr Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, says the administration will now pay more attention to Al Qaeda's offshoot in the Arabian Peninsula, which has claimed credit for the Christmas Day attack.
"Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula is an extension of Al Qaeda core coming out of Pakistan. In my view, it is one of the most lethal and one of the most concerning," he said.
"We had a strategic sense where they were going, but we didn't know that they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here.
"We have taken that lesson and now we're all on top of it."
The CIA has already announced it plans to increase the number of analysts looking at Yemen and Africa.
CIA director Leon Panetta has ordered the spy agency to formally distribute information on possible terrorists within 48 hours of receiving it in a bid to make sure there is not another serious intelligence failure.
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