Free Republic

Al Qaeda has an active plot to hit the West. The United States knows about it but doesn’t have enough tactical detail to issue a precise warning or raise the threat level, says Vice Admiral (ret.) John Scott Redd, who heads the government’s National Counterterrorism Center. In an interview at his headquarters near Washington, D.C., Redd told Newsweek’s Mark Hosenball and Jeffrey Bartholet that the country is better prepared than ever to counter such threats. But he also believes another successful terror attack on the U.S. homeland is inevitable. -snip- NEWSWEEK: People in various agencies have said that since Tora...

President Bush on Friday selected a retired vice admiral of the Navy, who recently held an operations post in Iraq, to direct the nation's new counterterrorism center charged with pooling and analyzing information about terrorist threats. Retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd is Bush's choice to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, White House spokesman Scott McClellan announced. Redd formerly was executive director of the Silberman-Robb presidential commission on intelligence. If confirmed by the Senate, Redd, 60, would replace John O. Brennan, the center's interim chief, who said last month that he would step down after a replacement was announced. "He...