U.S. counterterrorism agencies finding potential homegrown extremists in U.S.

U.S. counterterrorism officials say they are uncovering homegrown Islamic radicals inside the United States who lack formal ties to al-Qaeda and operate independently.

Those independent qualities — combined with the radicals' ability to organize and plot on the Internet — make them particularly difficult to disrupt, retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.

In a hearing on the changing face of terror, Redd said the threat from homegrown extremism is a recent trend that was seen in successful transit attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

...

Redd pointed to what he said were three potential homegrown organizations that have been disrupted in the U.S. in just over a year:

• Two Atlanta-area men, charged earlier this year in a terrorism case, have been publicly linked to some of the Canadian suspects. Prosecutors have said the two traveled to Washington to shoot "casing videos" of the Capitol and other potential targets. The lawyer for one suspect has insisted it wasn't part of any terrorism plot.

• In Torrance, Calif., the head of a radical Islamic prison gang and three others were indicted last year on federal charges of planning terrorist attacks against U.S. military facilities, the Israeli Consulate and other Los Angeles-area targets.

• In the farming town of Lodi, Calif., a young Pakistani man faces at least 30 years in prison for supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and lying to the FBI. His father pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle $28,000 in cash to Pakistan.

Showing how the government's mission has changed, Redd said that before 9/11 the FBI wrote 25 intelligence-information reports a year, but now the bureau produces more than 1,000 annually.

...

Redd said the merger between Zarqawi's group and al-Qaeda's central organization gives terror leaders a more diverse pool of "battle-hardened" operatives from which to draw. Intelligence officials, he said, are also seeing signs that Zarqawi's group was hatching plots outside Iraq. But he did not elaborate.

Redd and Henry Crumpton, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, agreed that al-Qaeda remains the pre-eminent concern of counterterror agencies. But they are also worried about other threats, including the Shiite extremist group, Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Iran.

After attempted airline bombing, effectiveness of intelligence reforms questioned

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 7, 2010; A01

The failure of U.S. authorities to detect a plot to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day has reignited long-simmering concerns that intelligence reforms implemented five years ago remain inadequate to prevent terrorist attacks.

With disaster aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 averted by the bomb's malfunction, rather than by astute analysis of available information, some intelligence officials have suggested that the reforms were the cause of such lapses and not the solution to them.

President Obama has not singled out anyone for blame and has said that everyone involved has "taken responsibility" for their shortfalls. But the most intense scrutiny has been directed toward the centerpiece of the 2004 intelligence reorganization: the National Counterterrorism Center.

The NCTC and its parent, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), were created to force the 16-agency intelligence community to share information in ways that eluded it leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As the central repository for "all-source" intelligence on international terrorism, the NCTC is tasked with connecting the dots and advising the government on threats.

If dots were not connected concerning the airline bombing allegedly attempted by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Obama "knows where to look" for the culprit, said one intelligence official who, like many others across the intelligence community, is worried about where the blame will fall and appeared anxious to direct it elsewhere, but would address the subject only on the condition of anonymity.

Other intelligence officials defended the NCTC, countering that some agencies appear less interested in fixing the problems than in concealing their own failure to interpret and flag information they had that might have prevented the holiday incident.

"Anyone who believes that a relatively small organization like NCTC is going to connect every electron in each of those 30 databases is either disingenuous or naive, and certainly knows very little about how intelligence analysis actually works," said a second official who was similarly reluctant to speak for attribution.

In a statement released Saturday, NCTC Director Michael E. Leiter said that al-Qaeda continues "to refine their methods to test our defenses" and that thwarting the group is "our most sacred responsibility." After Obama said Tuesday that "the system failed," Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair released a statement saying that the intelligence community "got" the president's message and acknowledged failure.

Regardless of where fault is ultimately assessed, several officials and experts said the failure to uncover the plot confirmed fears that the massive amounts of terrorism-related information being gathered since the 2001 attacks might outgrow the capacity to manage it. The CIA, the FBI, the military, and numerous Cabinet departments and independent agencies are flooded every day with new data from the field that is available to the NCTC.

"The single biggest worry that I have is long-term quality control," Russell E. Travers, in charge of the NCTC database of terrorism "entities," said in a 2007 interview as his list topped 400,000 and continued to expand. "Where am I going to be, where is my successor going to be, five years down the road?"

Travers is still there, and the database has grown to about 550,000. Beyond connecting the dots, "the challenge we now face is that we are collecting so much information," Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.) said last week of the system he helped devise as the top Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean (R), co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, which first proposed the reorganization, said the solution was not reducing the powers of the DNI and the NCTC but enhancing them. "Does the DNI have the proper tools?" he asked in an interview. "Does the DNI need to be strengthened?"

"We're not going to be so lucky next time," Kean said.

Others have drawn the opposite lesson from the failure. The CIA -- which lost its position as head of the intelligence community and analyst of all-source intelligence in the reorganization, as well as its direct role as intelligence adviser to the president -- has barely restrained itself from shouting, "We told you so."

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government was radically restructured to emphasize counterterrorism, with new agencies and divisions established. Twenty-two other domestic agencies were combined under a new Homeland Security Department.

The government's intelligence components were placed under the new umbrella of the DNI after the 9/11 Commission inquiry and other investigations determined that the cultural and electronic firewalls between them had prevented information-sharing in the days before the 2001 attacks. Under the new system, agencies were restricted largely to intelligence-gathering and instructed to contribute analysts to rotating duty at the NCTC. Intelligence officials at the CIA and other agencies argued against separating collection from analysis.

At NCTC headquarters, in a massive office building not far from CIA headquarters in Langley, analysts from the CIA and FBI; the Defense Intelligence Agency and others under the Pentagon umbrella; the departments of State, Homeland Security, Treasury and Energy; and other subsidiary agencies such as the drug enforcement and transportation security administrations sift through raw and processed intelligence.

In agency-integrated teams assigned by subject matter and geography, they turn out reports disseminated to thousands of policy and intelligence officials across the government. Agency representatives sit around a table three times daily -- at 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 1 a.m. -- to update the nation's threat matrix.

A smaller group of analysts maintains the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, the entities database into which thousands of pieces of intelligence information about terrorism suspects from around the world are downloaded each day. Every evening, TIDE dumps what it deems the most important of the day's gleanings into a separate database at the FBI-run Terrorist Screening Center -- a master watch list that is used to determine who is not allowed to obtain a U.S. visa, cross a U.S. border, or board an airliner in or destined for the United States.

The failures that might have uncovered the Christmas plot occurred when analysts failed to connect a Nov. 20 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, reporting a visit in which Abdulmutallab's father expressed concern that his 23-year-old son had fallen in with extremists in Yemen, with intelligence last summer and fall about an al-Qaeda plot.

The intelligence included communications intercepted by the National Security Agency indicating that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was planning a holiday attack and referred to a Nigerian being groomed for the mission. At least part of Abdulmutallab's name was thought to be included in the communications.

It is unclear whether the NSA, in the parlance of the community, "formally disseminated" the information in the intercepts to the NCTC or others. Although initial reform plans to combine all intelligence databases into a one-stop searchable system remain incomplete, NSA databases are available to NCTC analysts, as is the CIA database, in which agents began compiling a biography of Abdulmutallab after his father visited the embassy.

Some of the finger-pointing centers on claims and counterclaims about who should have flagged what for others to pay attention to and who should have looked where without being prompted. Travers, the TIDE chief who also serves as deputy director of the NCTC, predicted the problem even earlier than his 2007 expression of concern about the volume of terrorist information.

"If an organization posts something to its webpage, it can claim to have shared information," he wrote in the forward to a 2005 book published by the Joint Military Intelligence College. "Whether the right people know the information/analysis is there, and actually make use of it, is entirely another matter.

"Indeed, we'll almost certainly be dealing with precisely this problem in the post mortems of our next intelligence failure; the relevant intelligence will have been posted, but the right analysts never found it among the terabytes of available information."

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Redd Appears on Fox's 24

On Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, Redd's photo appeared in the 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM hour (Season 7: Episode 7) of Fox's 24 (TV Series). The photo can be seen in a long shot of the FBI director standing in his filing cabinets from 4:49:-5:07 of the episode. It is the only photo on the filing cabinets.

NATIONAL SECURITY MEDAL AWARDED TO FORMER NCTC DIRECTOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 22, 2009

NATIONAL SECURITY MEDAL AWARDED TO FORMER NCTC DIRECTOR

President George W. Bush awarded the National Security Medal to retired Vice Adm. John “Scott” Redd at a White House Ceremony Jan. 16, 2009. Redd was recognized by the President for “his more than 40 years of exceptional service to the Nation strengthening its intelligence capabilities and improving national security.” The National Security Medal is America’s highest intelligence award reserved for those with distinguished achievements or outstanding contributions in the field.

Redd became the first Senate confirmed director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in August 2005 and served in that position until November 2007. NCTC leads the U.S. Government’s counterterrorism efforts by analyzing and sharing threat information and integrating all elements of national power to defeat terrorist threats at home and abroad.

In awarding the medal, the President called Redd “an innovator, a strategic thinker, an inspirational leader and a dedicated servant to the Nation, respected for his vision, courage and integrity.” During his remarks the President also thanked Redd’s wife Donna for her service over many years. The Redd’s daughter Anne Redd Chamberlin and sons Scott Redd Jr., and Adam Redd attended the White House ceremony.

Redd served 36 years in the Navy, commanded eight organizations and served in several senior policy positions in the Pentagon. His last active duty assignment was as Director of Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff. In 1995, he founded the first new US Navy Fleet in half a century, serving as the first Commander Fifth Fleet since the World War II era. Redd retired from active military service in 1998.

Following his military service he was the CEO of a high tech firm. He served briefly as the Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq before becoming the Executive Director of the President’s Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction in 2004.

An avid amateur radio operator, Redd was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in May 2008. He has won numerous amateur radio operator awards including seven world championships.

A native of Sidney, Iowa, Redd graduated second in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 1966. He currently resides in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

NCTC Mission: Lead our nation’s effort to combat terrorism at home and abroad by analyzing the threat, sharing that information with our partners, and integrating all instruments of national power to ensure unity of effort.

Redd Receives National Security Medal from President Bush

On January 16, 2009, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Security Medal for his service as the first Senate-confirmed Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. [23] The decoration is awarded to any citizen of the United States who performs distinguished achievement or outstanding contribution, on or after 26 July 1947, in the field of intelligence relating to the national security of the United States of America. [24] The National Security Medal is authorized to both civilians and personnel of the United States military and is an authorized decoration for display on active duty uniforms of the United States armed forces. In such cases, the National Security Medal is worn after all U.S. military personal decorations and unit awards and before any military campaign/service awards and foreign decorations. Previous recipients include Bill Donovan, founder of the OSS; J. Edgar Hoover, former FBI Director; Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense; Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to President Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.[25]

Book Report on Ronald Kessler’s “THE TERRORIST WATCH”

The public is aware of only the tip of the counter-terror iceberg. In 2007, there were 60-70 terror plots in US being investigated every day. Every morning in the NCTC at 8:00 AM the Threat Matrix involving these treats is evaluated. Vice Admiral Redd, NCTC, with his small group of representatives from all the security agencies prepares a list of 25-30, which list is further reduced to 10-20. These are brought into the daily video conference involving the President, Nat. Security Council, DHS, and Nat. Intelligence Director. In 2004 alone, the Justice Department reported 379 convictions related to terrorism.

The NCTC is a 10,000 sq. ft. facility built like a TV network control center with 32 large screens and 350 computer stations. They operate a web page for 5000 world wide intelligence analysts. They control the no-fly list, and they are available for instant communication country-wide access from police, customs or immigration officers having a suspicious incident involving a terror risk. Someone on the no-fly list, if stopped for a traffic violation, can be held for a surveillance interview. There are 400,000 names on the NCTC list of terrorist entities.

Kessler points out that a major concern of our all of counter-terror officials is the demoralizing effect of the attacks by the left leaning media. The effectiveness of the terror investigations depends to great degree on the assistance and cooperation of the public. To the extent that the left is successful in engendering suspicion of the counter efforts it will further damage our security. At the current level, even though less than 1% of the open tips actually have lead to a terrorist, they are a valuable eye on the ground that has been extremely important especially regarding the new home grown Jihadist threat.

Redd in The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

“Redd has a neat, white mustache. His thick white hair is parted low. He is fast-talking and professorial. He sweeps his arms out while he’s speaking, in wide, shipboard gestures.” – p. 161, Chapter 16, “Threat Matrix,” in The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack by Ronald Kessler

Redd appears on pages 160, 161, 162-164, 166, 170-171, 243-244 and is pictured with W, Townsend and Hayden at the NCTC operations center in the photos section.

Inside the war

"The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack" is a remarkably insightful and revealing look at how U.S. counterterrorism agencies and their top players conducted America's attacks on al Qaeda and its affiliates prior to and following September 11.

...

"How has the U.S. government reorganized itself to respond to the terrorist threat since September 11? In several revealing chapters, Mr. Kessler describes the work of new agencies, such as the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which was established in 2004 to bring together all the raw intelligence on possible terrorist plots and ensure that the appropriate agencies involved in countering terrorism pursue the leads generated by these reports. As explained to Mr. Kessler by Adm. John Scott Redd, the NCTC's director (who resigned in November 2007), all potential terrorist threats against the United States are updated daily in a 12- to 16-page threat matrix document and various situation reports.

The NCTC also operates the Terrorist Information Datamart Environment, which consists of hyperlinked data on suspicious individuals that form the Terrorist Screening Center's master database of names that are used, for example, in identifying individuals on what are termed "no fly" lists."

U.S. Intelligence Officials Will Probe Leak of Bin Laden Video

Daily Blog Buzz: Leak or Lies?

White House on bin Laden tape leak

Q Dana, you said this morning in the gaggle that the White House did not leak the information about the bin Laden tape. How do you know that?

MS. PERINO: Well, this is -- let me take you back. This is the -- there was a private company that contacted the White House to let us know that they had found the Osama bin Laden tape, asked us if we wanted to have the federal government review it. When -- the standard practice at the White House is to take that phone call -- to take that request and direct it to -- directly to the DNI's office. So we do not ask to have that information just solely reviewed at the White House, we immediately turn it over to the National Center for Counterterrorism.

That's what Fred Fielding and Joel Bagnal did, the two people who were aware of the link. And it went to the DNI -- I'm sorry -- it went to the NCTC. And to the extent that we have Americans coming forward to provide us information, whether it be a private citizen or a private cooperation, or anybody in America that can provide the government information, we take it very seriously that they should, one, feel comfortable that in providing that information, that their sources will be protected; and that we will act on it, if necessary. We appreciate what they did. This was a cause of concern that the information was leaked. And I would have to refer to the DNI's office in regards to any possible investigation into that leak.

Q But I guess my question is, Fielding and Bagnal both knew about the information; you're positive they didn't leak it or take it --

MS. PERINO: Correct.

Q -- or take it further than the DNI's office?

MS. PERINO: We asked that the company contact NCTC directly and get that information to them directly.

Q So they didn't contact NCTC, the SITE company did. Who did Fielding and Bagnal contact? DNI?

MS. PERINO: I would check on that. I know that they asked for the company that called to contact NCTC directly. I don't know who else they might have called within our government -- possibly the DNI's counsel's office. But I'm not positive. I can check.

Q My question is, you're saying they contacted these other places. The company asked them not to. So how do you know that the leak didn't come --

MS. PERINO: No, no, we asked --

Q -- from Fielding or --

MS. PERINO: Because I've talked to Fred.

Q Okay, that's my question.

MS. PERINO: I have talked to Fred. And what we do is we ask -- the call comes in from the company, and then Fred said, we'd like for the federal government to be able to look at this, thank you, but don't send it to me, send it directly to the NCTC -- the National Center for Counterterrorism -- which was what was -- taken place here.

Al Qaida Goes Dark?

Fact is, the intel community knows far more about Al Qaida communications than most people realize--and that fact isn't widely publicized, for obvious reasons. But that depth of understanding does surface from time-to-time, particularly when a major terror plot is foiled. For example, DNI Mike McConnell recently told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that "wiretaps" (a euphemism for tailored signals intelligence collection and analysis) "contributed significantly" to the recent arrest of terror suspects in Germany and Denmark. An anonymous government official subsequently told The New York Times that Admiral McConnell "might have misspoken," suggesting that the DNI revealed a bit too much in his public testimony.

While the nation's intel apparatus is certainly capable of gross buffoonery, it's unlikely that any mid or high-level official would be willing to "blow" Obelisk unless they had other, better means for accessing Al Qaida communications--avenues that wouldn't be compromised by media coverage of the bin Laden video. Presumably, those 'access points" are still available and producing valuable intelligence--as evidenced by last month's arrests in Europe.

Meanwhile, Ms. Katz and her organization learned a couple of hard lessons. First, don't always assume you know more than the folks at Ft. Meade, who still have tools and methods that are unavailable to commercial intel firms. Secondly, be careful entrusting proprietary information to intel and security bureaucrats, who will gladly use private data to cover their own work, even if it means compromising your sources in the process.

Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets

Qaeda Goes Dark After a U.S. Slip: Enemy Vanishes From Its Web Sites

Redd Remembers Years In Sidney, Discusses NCTC Role

(Sidney) -- It was a rememorable weekend of one of Sidney's favorite sons. Dedication ceremonies were held Friday for the Admiral John "Scott" Redd Highway--otherwise know as the Highway 2 bypass project winding its way around Sidney. Redd tells KMA News the naming of the highway in his honor brings his career full circle--from growing up in Southwest Iowa, to his career with the U-S Navy. In addition to the dedication ceremonies, Redd also spoke to Sidney's seventh through 12th grade students Friday afternoon. Redd's main message involves something he calls the "VECTOR" principles--vision, excellence, character, being a team player, understanding your organization, and respecting others. Presently, Redd serves as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Redd's responsibilities are two-fold. First, he coordinates all intelligence activities regarding counterterrorism activities. Secondly, Redd is in charge of strategic operation planning involving all elements of the national war on terror. Redd believes the U-S has made progress in the war on terror, in that the U-S hasn't been attacked in the six years since 9/11. In addition, Redd says the nation is better prepared to guard against terrorism. Redd, however, says terrorists are dangerous, determined and patient. Redd warns the existing war on terror will continue for many years--he hopes it's over by the time his grandchildren become adults.

Terror Matrix: Current Threats Facing U.S.

WASHINGTON - The day after the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, President George Bush notified Congress that he was renewing the national emergency he announced in 2001 for another year. He also extended the powers that go along with it.

A national emergency gives the president the authority to take over certain elements of the economy that might be an asset, such as companies that work with certain raw materials. He can order the intelligence agencies to take extraordinary actions and he can suspend habeas corpus.

Bush said he extended it because of the "continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States."

What are the threats and how does the intelligence community figure out which are of greatest concern? The best way to answer is to visit the nerve center of counter-terrorism.

Press spokesman Carl Kropf opened the door to a large suite of second floor offices at the National Counter Terrorism Center and led me in to see the director of the center Vice Adm. John Scott Redd -- the man that I often call "E.F. Hutton."

E.F. Hutton & Co. was one of the most respected financial firms in the United States for several decades. The company was best known for its commercials in the 1970s and 1980s based on the phrase, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."

Redd rarely grants interviews. My first and last one until now was late December 2005. It was an eye-opener for me, and several other media organizations that quoted the interview.

This recent interview would prove to be no disappointment. Redd, Chief of Staff Joseph Stewart and NCTC Deputy Director Russ Travers met us at the entrance to Redd's office.

Just as we walked in, Fox News National Security Correspondent Catherine Herridge was doing a liveshot on one of several large wall-mounted flat-screen TV sets. She was talking about a radical Islamic Web site message threatening an attack on Manhattan.

That set the tone for the interview.

"Let me try to put that in context for you -- everyday, NCTC gets thousands of pieces of information related to terrorism."

He said they sort the item, as do all the other elements of the intelligence community.

"We go through each one of them taking nothing off the table automatically. And we try and say which of these are we most worried about."

On that morning, 23 items made the "threat matrix," which is a list of major threats that were reported for that morning. The website threat was one of them. The fact that it made it into the matrix meant it was significant.

It fell into the category of "chatter."

"The specific issue that comes up very often is the issue of chatter. That has been used by a number of people as an indication that something is about to happen," Redd said. "We clearly take it seriously but again each piece of it has to be looked at on its merits. What's the source? Is it credible?"

In this case, the Web site threat turned out to be empty, but halfway around the world in Denmark and Germany, very serious and very real threats were unfolding.

Redd didn't talk specifics, but he did say al Qaida is "moving into a higher tempo of operations."

"What we're not sure of, and what we don't have as much information on, are the more tactical details -- the who, what, where and when of the threat."

The warning the terrorists may be loose somewhere in the country raised a big question. Does the government's terrorist screening process actually work?

Travers said 'yes,' and laid out the proof.

"There have been people who have ultimately conducted suicide attacks overseas that have been prevented from coming into the country."

He would not go any further on that matter because of professional restrictions, but he was referring to cases like the one where a traveler from the Middle East arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in June of 2003 and was turned around because he was on the list. Two years later his fingerprints were found on the steering wheel of truck used in a suicide bombing in Iraq that killed 132 people.

So that part of the system works, but "as we saw on 9-11, the 19 hijackers used 362 odd aliases. That's a challenge for us."

That memory of that aspect of Sept. 11 cuts deeply in the intelligence community and the German plot ripped the scab off it before it was healed.

The reason? The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks were planned in Germany. And as the details of last week's plot emerge, we're beginning to learn just how serious it was. CIA Director Michael Hayden said to have been concerned enough about it that he traveled there and talked about "threats" in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations last Friday.

Analysts assess with high confidence that al-Qaida's central leadership is planning high-impact plots against the U.S. homeland. Second, they assess that al-Qaida has protected or regenerated key elements of its homeland attack capability. That means safe haven in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan, operational lieutenants, and a top leadership engaged in planning.

Al-Qaida's success with the remaining element-planting operatives in this country is less certain.

Third, they assess whether al-Qaida is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction, and significant economic aftershocks.

And based on information from German sources, this plot was the real deal and there is evidence that had it not been foiled, today might might have been eerily similar to Sept 11, 2001.

'Special Report' Panel on General Petraeus and the Anti-War Faction

KONDRACKE: I thought the best line of the week on this was from Admiral Redd, who is now the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who said that we are safer than we were on 9/11, but we are not safe, and we will not be safe for a generation, because this is a long war.

And it seems to be true. The Al Qaeda has not attacked back in the United States again. As a matter of fact, Judy Miller wrote a piece in The Telegraph, saying instead of attacking us in commemoration of 9/11, he sent out a video tape, which indicates progress on our part.

And so, clearly, we're safer than we were. The whole purpose of the foreign police of the United States is to fight Islamic terrorism now, and we barely recognized the threat back before 9/11.

But we're not safe, as witness Al Qaeda's ability to attack in Germany which we foiled. But we do not know whether there are any Al Qaeda plants in the United States. I would guess that there probably are, waiting around for the right message from Usama bin Laden.

So this is going to go on for a long time, which is why we have to do things like give the government this FISA power that they asked for and the Congress reluctantly gave them

Scott Redd in the news

NCTC Director and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (R) is escorted by U.S. Navy (Ret.) Vice Admiral Scott Redd. Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), while touring the Operations Center at the NCTC in McLean, Virginia, September 10, 2007. REUTERS/Molly Riley (UNITED STATES)

Outgoing Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales, left, listens as National Counterterrorism Center Director John Scott Redd speaks at the center in McLean, Va., Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, following Gonzales tour of the facility. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

Outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, accompanied by of the National Counterterrorism Center Director John Scott Redd, gestures while speaking with the media following a tour of the center in McLean, Va.

Outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, right, walks with of the National Counterterrorism Center Director John Scott Redd during a tour of the facility in McLean, Va., Monday, Sept. 10, 2007.(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)