Washington, Nov.14 (ANI): A resilient and determined al Qaeda will continue to pose a threat to the United States and other countries inimical to interests from its safe haven in Pakistan, the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has warned.
The Washington Post quoted Michael V. Hayden as saying that al-Qaeda remains the single greatest threat to the United States.
al-Qaeda remains “a determined, adaptive enemy” that is resilient and operating “from its safe haven in Pakistan’’s tribal areas. If there is a major strike on this country, it will bear the fingerprints of al-Qaeda,” he told an audience at the Atlantic Council, a bipartisan group that deals with international affairs.
He also said that Iraq is no longer the central front in the broader war on terrorism. Hayden said there has not been any noticeable increase in terrorist chatter that would indicate al-Qaeda is preparing to take advantage of a presidential transition period as they did in attacking the World Trade Center in 1993 shortly after President Clinton took office, or again in 2001, as the Bush administration was settling in.
Meanwhile, Senator Russell Feingold, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has called for new intelligence leadership that will “work aggressively to ensure the safety and security of Americans without undermining our laws and Constitution.” (ANI)