Chertoff >CIA FBI, NSA, DIA, DEA, Dept. Of State/Energy/Treasury,USAF/USA/USN/USC/USCG Intel, et al
From The Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON -- A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al Qaeda has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001.
A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the document -- titled "Al Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West" -- called it a stark appraisal. The analysis will be part of a broader meeting at the White House on Thursday about an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.
Interesting. So after 6 years of continuous war, fear mongering, and changing color coated threat level changes that resemble your favorite dance scene from Saturday Night Fever, we are back at square one.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly is a National Intelligence Estimate?
National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs), produced by the National Intelligence Council, express the coordinated judgments of the US Intelligence Community made up of 16 intelligence agencies, and thus represent the most authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
I see. And which agencies compose this so called US Intelligence Community?
Members of the IC
Air Force Intelligence
Army Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Coast Guard Intelligence
Defense Intelligence Agency
Department of Energy
Department of Homeland Security
Department of State
Department of the Treasury
Drug Enforcement Administration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Marine Corps Intelligence
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency
Navy Intelligence
Wow. So I guess, in theory, no one really knows more about Intelligence than these guys.
Well, maybe Michael "Gut Check" Chertoff does:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Thursday the threat to the United States from al Qaeda has not returned to levels seen just before the September 11 attacks nearly six years ago.
Chertoff played down media reports the militant network has regained strength and was now as great a threat as in the months before the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.
"I wouldn't put it at that level," he told ABC's "Good Morning America."
Wow, Mike. Guess those Intelligence Community guys forgot to include your Department’s submission for the latest NIE.
Wonder what the old Commander Guy has to say about this NIE?
At a news conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged the report's existence and al Qaeda's continuing threat to the U.S. He said, however, that the report refers only to al Qaeda's strength in 2001, not prior to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The group was at its strongest throughout most of that year, with well-established training camps in Afghanistan, recruitment networks and command structures.
I’m as baffled as you are. Against his better judgment (in a more perfect world), the Decider continued:
Mr. Bush used the new threat assessment to show his administration's policies are the right course. "Because of the actions we've taken, al Qaeda is weaker today than they would have been," he said. "They are still a threat. They are still dangerous. And that is why it is important that we succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq and anywhere else we find them."
So if not for the Pretzeldent’s stellar foreign and defense policies, Al-Queada would be what, twice as strong? Three times as strong? As they were before they killed of 3,000 people on American soil, rather than just as strong as before 4,000 American Uniformed Service Members laid down their lives in a fight against "Islamofascism".
These people never cease to amaze me. The greatest crime will be that our media will allow the to get away with it; but, that’s a different diary for a different day.