Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 1:34 pm

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief, Al-Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the US in the next three to six months, the top US spy chief says. Al Qaeda To Attempt US Attack Soon: Spy Shief
“The chances of an attempted attack are certain. They’re going to try,” US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair replied when asked about the likelihood of an attempted al-Qaeda strike over that time frame.
Blair said the extremist network that carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks would keep targeting the United States until bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have been caught or killed.
“We judge that al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the Homeland preferably with a large scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the US economy, or both,” Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“We assess that at least until Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are dead or captured, al-Qaeda will retain its resolute intent to strike the Homeland,” he said.
With President Barack Obama’s administration under fire for its handling of the attempted Christmas Day bomber, notably informing him of his right to remain silent, Blair declined to say whether bin Laden should get the same treatment if captured.
Instead, Blair said he “would very much hope” that the Saudi-born extremists would be interrogated and that officials would “squeeze” him for information.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress on Tuesday the terrorist organisation is deploying operatives to the US to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including “clean” recruits with a negligible trail of terror contacts. Al-Qaeda is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al-Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief

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