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FBI and CIA Say al-Qaeda Is Biggest Threat NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON – Al-Qaeda still poses the greatest threat to the United States, FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director George Tenet told a Senate panel Tuesday. The most recent U.S. intelligence points to plots aimed at the United States and the Arabian Peninsula, according Mueller. "The al-Qaeda network will remain for the foreseeable future the most immediate and serious threat facing this country," Mueller told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on worldwide threats. "The organization maintains the ability and the intent to inflict significant casualties in the United States with little warning. "We face a long war whose end is difficult to foresee," Mueller said. "Al-Qaeda is still dedicated to striking the United States homeland," CIA Director George Tenet said. "We place no limitations on our expectations on what al-Qaeda might do to survive." Though both intelligence officials concentrated on al-Qaeda, they discussed a host of other threats: Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, South Asia, Libya, Sudan, chronic instability in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide nuclear proliferation. Jets, Banks, Stores, Churches, Schools ... Al-Qaeda would prefer high-profile targets with mass casualties – possibly using toxins or poison against targets such as government facilities, airliners and landmarks – and is seeking weapons of mass destruction, according to the intelligence officials. But the network might resort to more conventional attacks on "soft" targets that are easier to execute. "Multiple small-scale attacks against small targets – such as banks, shopping malls, supermarkets, apartment buildings, schools and universities, churches and places of recreation and entertainment – would be easier to execute and would minimize the need to communicate with central leadership, lowering the risks of detection," said Mueller. Tenet noted Iraq in a long list of threats posed by foreign regimes, terrorist groups and arms dealers operating in a "new world of proliferation" where organizations, as opposed to foreign countries, become the purveyors of increasingly potent weapons of mass destruction weapons and technology. He said North Korea's recent admission about highly enriched uranium program "raises serious new challenges for the region and the world." Nuclear Domino Theory "The desire for nuclear weapons is on the upsurge," Tenet said. "Additional countries may decide to seek nuclear weapons as it becomes clear their neighbors and regional rivals are already doing so. The 'domino theory' of the 21st century may well be nuclear." Mueller said the government raised terrorist threat level based on information from multiple sources with "strong al-Qaeda ties." The sources revealed possible plots "timed to occur as early as the end of Haj" on Friday. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., asked if U.S. citizens should use plastic to help seal their homes in case of terror attacks using chemical agents. Mueller said that citizens should be on heightened alert. However: "It is our belief that Americans should go about their business and should not cancel any plans that they may have, because we have no specifics. But we all should be more alert." Copyright 2003 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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