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Intelligence Officials Warn Threat as Great as Before 9-11
Friday, October 18, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

"Prior to Sept. 11 ... your intelligence community was playing American football with the opposition on the two-yard line, and it was forever first and goal. They would run a play, and our measure of merit would be if we stopped them from getting into the end zone on that particular play. And if we did, some metaphorical official would take the ball, put it back on the two-yard line, and declare it to be first and 10 again. What has changed is that we are delaying, denying, disrupting and destroying portions of the al Qaeda network. Prior to Sept. 11, time was infinite for them. It was always on their side. They could take whatever steps they needed to take in order to be secure. They can no longer do that. Things are going bump in their night now, and that puts us at a great advantage. That's the big difference."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
The terrorist threat today is as great as it was in the weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, CIA Director George Tenet told Congress Oct. 17.

Tenet told the Joint Committee on Intelligence that al Qaeda has reconstituted. "They are coming after us," he said. "They want to execute attacks. You see it in Bali, you see it in Kuwait. They plan in multiple theaters of operations. They intend to strike this homeland again, and we better get about the business of putting the right structure in place as fast as we can."

Tenet said the CIA's current evaluation of al Qaeda is based on the number of attacks around the world and the number of attempts foiled.

"You must make the assumption that al Qaeda is in an execution phase and intends to strike us both here and overseas," he said. "That's unambiguous as far as I am concerned."
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan