Although the US has succeeded in "seriously damaging" the leadership structure of Al Qaeda, the terrorist group is still capable of carrying out catastrophic attacks of the scale of September 11 against the US and its allies, the CIA has warned.
In the past 18 months, "we have killed or captured key Al Qaeda leaders in every significant operational area - logistics, planning, finance, training - and have eroded the key pillars of the organisation, such as the leadership in Pakistani urban areas and operational cells in the Al Qaeda heartland of Saudi Arabia and Yemen," CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday.
"However, we are still at war. This is a learning organisation that remains committed to attacking the US, its
friends and allies," he said.
Tenet said the agency had uncovered new Al Qaeda plans to recruit pilots and to evade security measures in Southeast
Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Tenet said the CIA is making progress in acquiring knowledge about Al Qaeda's plans, capabilities and intentions. "And what we have learned continues to validate my deepest concern: that this enemy remains intent on obtaining, and using, catastrophic weapons," he said.
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