Senators Warned of Terrorist Attack on U.S. by July
88 replies, posted
[quote] America’s top intelligence official told lawmakers on Tuesday that Al Qaeda and its affiliates had made it a high priority to attempt a large-scale attack on American soil within the next six months.
Intelligence officials appearing Tuesday before a Senate panel: Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, second from left; Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, center; and Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, second from right.
The assessment by Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, was much starker than his view last year, when he emphasized the considerable progress in the campaign to debilitate Al Qaeda and said that the global economic meltdown, rather than the prospect of a major terrorist attack, was the “primary near-term security concern of the United States.”
At Tuesday’s hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Mr. Blair to assess the possibility of an attempted attack in the United States in the next three to six months.
He replied, “The priority is certain, I would say” — a response that was reaffirmed by the top officials of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.
Citing a recent wave of terrorist plots, including the failed Dec. 25 attempt to blow up an airliner as it approached Detroit, Mr. Blair and other intelligence officials told a Senate panel that Al Qaeda had adjusted its tactics to more effectively strike American targets domestically and abroad.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11,” said Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director. “It is that Al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect.”
As the C.I.A. continues its drone attacks aimed at Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, the officials also said that the network’s splinter groups in Yemen and Somalia were taking on more importance.
But Mr. Blair began his annual threat testimony before Congress by saying that the threat of a crippling attack on telecommunications and other computer networks was growing, as an increasingly sophisticated group of enemies had “severely threatened” the sometimes fragile systems undergirding the country’s information infrastructure.
“Malicious cyberactivity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication,” he told the committee.
His emphasis on the threat points up the growing concerns among American intelligence officials about the potentially devastating results of a coordinated attack on the nation’s technology apparatus, sometimes called a “cyber-Pearl Harbor.”
He said that the surge in cyberattacks, including the penetration of Google’s servers from inside China, was a “wake-up call” for those who dismissed the threat of computer warfare. “Sensitive information is stolen daily from both government and private-sector networks, undermining confidence in our information systems, and in the very information these systems were intended to convey,” Mr. Blair said.
In another departure from last year’s testimony, Mr. Blair appeared alongside other top intelligence officials, including the heads of the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Last year, the intelligence director sat alone before the committee, a partly symbolic gesture intended to demonstrate the authority of the director, whose office has been criticized for commanding little power over America’s 16 intelligence agencies.
At times, the senators seemed more interested in debating one another than in hearing testimony from witnesses. Midway through the hearing, partisan bickering broke out about whether terrorist suspects ought to be tried in civilian courts and whether the man charged as the Dec. 25 bomber should have been given Miranda rights that could protect him against self-incrimination.
As senators traded barbs, the intelligence officials stared stonily ahead or shuffled their notes.
The intelligence chiefs also raised warnings about nuclear proliferation, particularly focusing on Iran and North Korea.
Mr. Blair said that Iran “has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons,” and that the discovery of a secret enrichment plant near Qum heightened suspicions about Iran’s intentions to build a nuclear bomb.
Still, he said that Tehran was following a “cost-benefit approach” to its nuclear decision-making and that it remained unclear whether Iran’s leadership would make a political calculation to begin producing weapons-grade uranium, allowing other nations to “influence” that decision through diplomatic steps.[/quote]
Aww Hell. Its in the same month of my birthday. Damn Terrorists :suicide:
Source:[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/us/politics/03intel.html[/url]
Ugh shit shit shit I live by a really big airport shit shit shit.
[editline]09:18PM[/editline]
oh fuck were gona be poor
But, my birthday is in July :saddowns:
[quote]Mr. Blair said that Iran “has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons,”[/quote]
Not with this crap again.
[QUOTE=MirageKnight;20002917]But, my birthday is in July :saddowns:[/QUOTE]
Terrorist should do it on July 4th.
They already accomplished their mission. by dropping a hint about an attack it's like it has already happened. Security is going to tighten even more now, and people are going to panic.
[QUOTE=MirageKnight;20002917]But, my birthday is in July :saddowns:[/QUOTE]
My birthday is in June :smug:
30 people were feared dead on my birthday last year :smug:
July 1st
Bring it.
:jihad:
Nothing will happen
/thread
Oh shit :< I live close to LA..... LAX
Suburbs ftw
[editline]10:47PM[/editline]
Goodnight people of the big cities.
I live out in the middle of nowhere :smug:
Oh dear God, an Al Qaida operative might actually succeed in blowing his own nuts off!
Fear tactics etc. etc.
-snip-
There coming back for revenge...
The forth plane was ment for the white house! Im cereal!
[QUOTE=Fables;20002979]Terrorist should do it on July 4th.[/QUOTE]
funny, the thing I first thing about when reading this article is "the firesale scene" from Die Hard 4.0, where they attack government infastructure and steal money by just hacking internet connections and computers.
[url]http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/nuclear-attacks.htm[/url]
[quote]2010: In the year 2010 A.D., New York City will be struck by a nuclear bomb explosion.
The explosion occurs sometime between June 1st and December 31st of 2010, inclusive. This bomb will be an actual nuclear bomb, not merely 'dirty bomb.' It will not be sent by a missile. The city will not be totally destroyed, but the effects of the explosion will be devastating. The radioactive fall-out will devastate the surrounding area, particularly New Jersey. The bomb will be sent by the group of Arab/Muslim nations formed earlier that year, led by Iran and Iraq. This nuclear attack marks the start of World War 3. [/quote]
Goodbye cruel world.
So whats the worst that can happen, they blow up an airport/hijack a plane.
..Remember, no Chinese.
[QUOTE=firstblood;20004303][url]http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/nuclear-attacks.htm[/url]
Goodbye cruel world.[/QUOTE]
thats not funny I live in New York
[QUOTE=firstblood;20004303][URL]http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/nuclear-attacks.htm[/URL]
Goodbye cruel world.[/QUOTE]
So because of a terrorist attack by nuclear bomb, world war 3 starts? I'm failing to see the logic here...
WE ALL GON' DIE!
Bad bad terrorists terrorizing everyone :(
[QUOTE=firstblood;20004303][url]http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/nuclear-attacks.htm[/url][/QUOTE]
:raise:
[editline]13:31[/editline]
I feel just a scare tactic coming along. Even then coincidentally I will be visiting my girlfriend in America this year sometime in July.
[QUOTE=GreenDolphin;20004869]
I feel just a scare tactic coming along. Even then coincidentally I will be visiting my girlfriend in America this year sometime in July.[/QUOTE]
Cyber-relationshiplol
yeah and the world is gonna end in 2012
[editline]12:45PM[/editline]
Watch the TSA do more stupid shit, because it's just impossible that the terrorist would be trying to degrade our liberties through fucking TERROR.
[editline]12:46PM[/editline]
God no forget for a moment that they are called TERRORISTS, let's all fear them!
Nothing is going to happen. Just like those other 100 times something like this happened.
[QUOTE=Tigster;20003085]They already accomplished their mission. by dropping a hint about an attack it's like it has already happened. Security is going to tighten even more now, and people are going to panic.[/QUOTE]
I'm not going to panic.
Wow, I've never heard of this happening before :downs:
Reminds me of a note I saw in the bathroom on campus the other day:
"Attack of the rabid JEWS! 02/17/2019".
:v:
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