CIA, FBI directors say al-Qaeda threat remains strong
Posted on 02/11/2003 6:05:30 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
CIA, FBI directors say al-Qaeda threat remains strong
02/11/2003
WASHINGTON -- The al-Qaeda terrorist network remains a dangerous and ruthless foe, plotting more attacks perhaps as early as this week against the United States and its allies, the heads of the CIA and FBI told Congress today.
But, with war looming against Iraq and a nuclear crisis brewing on the Korean Peninsula, al-Qaeda is not the only danger on the horizon, CIA Director George Tenet and FBI Director Robert Mueller said.
"The national security environment that exists today is significantly more complex than a year ago," Mr. Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee, delivering his annual assessment of worldwide threats.
Still, al-Qaeda remains "the most urgent threat to U.S. interests," Mr. Mueller said.
Mr. Tenet refused to discuss, in public session, the whereabouts or well-being of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief who has been on the run since the United States launched military strikes against his Afghan stronghold in late 2001.
Later in the day, al-Jazeera television aired an audiotape purporting to be the voice of Mr. bin Laden expressing solidarity with the Iraqi people. CIA officials, who had not heard the tape, declined to confirm its authenticity.
Citing recent intelligence, Mr. Tenet said al-Qaeda could launch attacks in the United States or on the Arabian Peninsula, coinciding with the end of the Muslim hajj holy days later this week, using poisons, chemical weapons or a bomb that releases radioactive material.
"Al-Qaeda is living in the expectation of resuming the offensive," he said.
Last week, federal authorities placed the nation on high alert for terrorist attacks, raising the threat level for only the second time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The enhanced security that results from a higher threat level can buy us more time to operate against the individuals who are plotting to do us harm," Mr. Tenet told the senators.
While he and Mr. Mueller said the terrorist network remains a major threat to U.S. security, they noted a number of successes the United States has had in the 17 months since al-Qaeda hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing more than 3,000.
More than 3,000 suspected al-Qaeda operatives or sympathizers have been apprehended; a third of the network's leaders have been captured or killed; and a number of plots have been disrupted worldwide, Mr. Tenet said. In the United States, prosecutors have charged 197 suspected terrorists and secured 99 convictions to date, Mr. Mueller said.
As the Bush administration presses its case against Saddam Hussein, the CIA and FBI heads expressed concern that the Iraqi dictator may seek to supply al-Qaeda with weapons of mass destruction "before or during a war with the U.S. to avenge the fall of his regime," Mr. Mueller said.
The United States, which in recent weeks has released intelligence seeking to show ties between Mr. Hussein and a suspected al-Qaeda planner who lived in Baghdad, offered new details Tuesday. Mr. Tenet said the Iraqi regime is permitting two dozen or more al-Qaeda sympathizers to operate freely out of Baghdad.
"We see disturbing signs that al-Qaeda has established a presence in both Iran and Iraq," he said.
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