Al Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months
"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," CIA Director Leon Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Panetta also warned of the danger of extremists acting alone: "It's the lone-wolf strategy that I think we have to pay attention to as the main threat to this country," he said.
Director of National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said that Al Qaeda can be expected to continue and try to attack the United States until Osama bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, are dead.
Blair warned as well of a growing cyber threat, saying computer-related attacks have become dynamic and malicious.
The government's first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review [PDF, 108 pages - 949 KB] states high consequence and large-scale cyberattacks could massively disable or hurt international financial, commercial and physical infrastructure, cripple the movement of people and goods around the world and bring vital social and economic programs to a halt. -- FOX News
2 comments:
"Lone-wolf strategy." Self-contained, self-initiating one-man sleeper cells. Chilling prospect.
The 2002 DC Sniper, John Muhammed, demonstrated how destructive one 'amateur' guerilla jihadist can be. Hindered by a low IQ, no clear plan and an unreliable 1990 clunker, he terrorized the DC/MD/VA area to the verge of hysteria for three long weeks for only the cost of some gas money and sixteen rounds of .223. Both Federal and local authorities mobilized massively to no effect. Ultimately captured by accident by a citizen after pinning a handwritten extortion note to a tree.
Had he exercised caution, paced himself, alternated vehicles/weapons, struck then laid low at intervals while LE exhausted its resources, the death toll could have continued indefinitely. Just a handful of copycats across the country, each acting independently/simultaneously in different urban centers would be an unprecedented challenge. Why our obvious vulnerability hasn't yet been exploited seems a mystery...or a tribute to Gitmo?
Clinton: Al-Qaeda is "greater threat" than Iran & N. Korea
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Al-Qaeda has grown more "creative and flexible" since 2001 and poses greater threat to the United States than Iran and North Korea.
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