Current and Projected National Security Threats to the United States: Hearing Before the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, First Session, February 16, 2005U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005 - 95 pages |
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A.Q. Khan activities Admiral JACOBY Admiral Loy agencies agents al-Qa'ida American analysts assessment attack ballistic missile believe border capabilities Chairman ROBERTS challenges China Committee concern coordinated counterterrorism countries crime cyber Defense develop Director Goss Director Mueller efforts election extremists FBI's foreign intelligence gangs going Hizballah Homeland Security individuals information sharing insurgency intel intelligence community investigations Iran Iraq Iraqi Islamic Jemaah Islamiyah jihadist law enforcement ligence maritime ment military Muslim National Counterterrorism Center National Intelligence national security North Korea nuclear weapons officers operations Pakistan Palestine Islamic Jihad Palestinian port potential proliferation question remains response Rodley rorist Russia Saudi Senator BAYH Senator LEVIN Senator WYDEN statement strategic Sunni targets Task Force terrorism terrorist terrorist groups terrorist organizations Thank there's tion U.S. interests United Usama bin Ladin Vice Chairman ROCKEFELLER war on terrorism weapons of mass
Popular passages
Page 9 - Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-US jihadists. • These jihadists who survive will leave Iraq experienced in and focused on acts of urban terrorism. They represent a potential pool of contacts to build transnational terrorist cells, groups, and networks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other countries.
Page 41 - Recent information from ongoing investigations, detentions, and emerging threat streams strongly suggests that al Qaeda has considered using the southwest border to infiltrate the United States. Several al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry...
Page 46 - Qaida's stated intention to conduct an attack exceeding the destruction of 9/11 raises the possibility that planned attacks may involve unconventional weapons. There is little doubt it has contemplated using radiological or nuclear material. The question is whether al-Qaida has the capability. Because they are easier to employ, we believe terrorists are more likely to use biological agents such as ricin or botulinum toxin or toxic industrial chemicals to cause casualties and attack the psyche of...
Page 46 - Islamic terrorists that form the "al Qaeda associated movement." Osama bin Laden and his senior leadership no longer exercise centralized control and direction. We now face an "al Qaeda associated movement" of like-minded groups who interact, share resources and work to achieve shared goals. Some of the groups comprising this movement include Jemaah Islamiyya, responsible for the 9 September bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and Hezb-e-IslamiGulbuddin.
Page 10 - ... undermine the effectiveness of existing Iraqi security forces. • The lack of security is hurting Iraq's reconstruction efforts and economic development, causing overall economic growth to proceed at a much slower pace than many analysts expected a year ago. • Alternatively, the larger uncommitted moderate Sunni population and the Sunni political elite may seize the...
Page 9 - Laden, has started on the road to recovery after decades of instability and civil war. Hamid Karzai's election to the presidency was a major milestone. Elections for a new National Assembly and local district councils — tentatively scheduled for this spring — will complete the process of electing representatives.
Page 14 - Goss specifically stating that "[i]t may be only a matter of time before al Qaeda or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.
Page 8 - Al-Qaida is only one facet of the threat from a broader Sunni jihadist movement" and that "the Iraq conflict, while not a cause of extremism, has become a cause for extremists" and that economic development there has proceeded more slowly than hoped because of the insurgency [11].
Page 52 - ... maintained by a uniquely thorough indoctrination, pervasive security services and Party organizations, and a loyal military. Russia. Despite an improving economy, Russia continues to face endemic challenges related to its post-Soviet military decline. Seeking to portray itself as a great power, Moscow has made some improvements to its armed forces, but has not addressed difficult domestic problems that will limit the scale and scope of military recovery. Significant procurement has been postponed...
Page 46 - States and our interests. The network is transnational and has a broad range of capabilities, to include mass-casualty attacks. The most dangerous and immediate threat is Sunni Islamic terrorists that form the "al Qaeda associated movement.