Al-Qaida Affiliates 'Foremost Concern' For U.S.
Top intelligence officials explained the latest challenges the U.S. faces in combating terrorism to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Besides concerns of attacks orchestrated by large networks like al-Qaida, officials also expect to see more attacks by lone radicals and operatives with clean records.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
We begin this hour with an update on the security threats facing the United States. Every year around this time, the nation's spy chiefs deliver a report to Congress called the threat assessment. And every year al-Qaida is at or near the top of the list. This year it's still is, but with a twist. Al-Qaida's affiliate group in Yemen is now a foremost concern for U.S. spy agencies.
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: CIA director Leon Panetta was characteristically blunt in telling lawmakers what he loses sleep over.
Mr. LEON PANETTA (Director, CIA): My greatest concern, and what keeps me awake at night, is that al-Qaida and its terrorist allies and affiliates could very well attack the United States.
KELLY: Panetta was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with his boss, National Intelligence Director, Dennis Blair, FBI director, Robert Mueller and other top intelligence officials. They all share the view that al-Qaida will try again, and soon. Listen to this exchange with the committee chair, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN (Democrat, California): What is the likelihood of another terrorist attempted attack on the U.S. homeland in the next three to six months, high or low, Director Blair?
Mr. DENNIS BLAIR (Director, National Intelligence): An attempted attack, the priority is certain, I would say.
Sen. FEINSTEIN: Mr. Panetta?
Mr. PANETTA: I would agree with that.
Sen. FEINSTEIN: Mr. Mueller?
Mr. ROBERT MUELLER (Director, FBI): Agree.
Sen. FEINSTEIN: General Burgess?
Lieutenant General RONALD BURGESS (Director, Defense Intelligence Agency): Yes, mam agree.
Sen. FEINSTEIN: Mr. Dinger?
Mr. JOHN DINGER (Acting Assistant Secretary State): Yes.
KELLY: They all agreed with that. That said, Panetta argued that his biggest concern is not another 9/11 style attack, rather it's a terror threat that keeps adapting making plots harder to detect. Panetta says terrorists are now trying to strike at the U.S. in three distinct ways. One, they are still the core al-Qaida group. Still based in the Afghan-Pakistan tribal belt, and they are still trying to train and send terrorist to attack the U.S. A second growing worry is the loner. Panetta says think of the alleged Forthood shooter, Nidal Hasan, self radicalized, homegrown. And then there's the third category.
Mr. PANETTA: It's the concern about the terrorist who has quote "clean credentials" unquote. It doesn't have a history of terrorism that has come to our attention.
KELLY: The key example here Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a plane on Christmas day. He is notable because he already had a U.S. visa.
Mr. PANETTA: I think they are going to be looking for other opportunities like that.
KELLY: Abdul Mutallab's also notable because his training and explosives are believed to have come, not from the core group, but from an al-Qaida regional affiliate in Yemen. Intelligence director Blair said gaps have been closed since that attempted bombing on Christmas day.
Mr. BLAIR: I'm confident that someone who left the trail that Mr. Abdul Mutallab did would now be - would now be found.
KELLY: But Blair added the system is always vulnerable to someone quote "more careful, more skilled." At a hearing like this, the task is to run through a whole range of threats, not just al-Qaida, and there was plenty to talk about, from nuclear proliferation to climate change, to prospects for peace in the Middle East. One area, Blair tried to focus senators on is the growing threat of cyber attacks.
Mr. BLAIR: Malicious cyber activity is growing at an unprecedented rate, assuming extraordinary scale and sophistication.
Blair says, we should see the recent cyber attacks on Google in China as a wake up call. But there was some good news in all of this, from an unlikely corner, the economy. Just last year, Blair testified that the global financial crisis posed the greatest threat to U.S. national security, because an economic downturn leads to unemployment, which can lead to civil unrest, which can lead to political instability. But that hasn't happened, Blair said. At least, not to the extent that he'd feared. Blair told lawmakers quote "the past economic clouds darkening the whole strategic outlook, have partially lifted."
Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.
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