Director of National Intelligence Discusses al Qaida Threat

July 20, 2007 - 6:19am

Editor's Note: In an exclusive WTOP interview, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell sat down with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green and talked about what the United States has learned about al Qaida's plans.

J.J. Green, WTOP Radio

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell speaks at the DNI Open Source Conference , Tuesday, July 17, 2007 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

WASHINGTON - Sitting at his desk, a stone's throw from the White House, with his advisers huddled nearby, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is wearing a light blue oxford button down shirt, a red, white and blue-striped tie and the confidence of a man in possession of his enemies' secrets.

McConnell sat down for his first media interview after five months on the job, eager to dig into the main topic of discussion -- the threat the United States faces from al Qaida. Listen to part of the conversation on the left.

"My day runs from 4 a.m. until 10 o'clock at night," McConnell says.

For a man who doesn't get much sleep, McConnell looks rested and has an amazing grip on the details of exactly what's going on in the trenches of the Global War on Terror.

And he knows exactly what al Qaida is up to.

"What I can tell you is that there are some number of operatives that are ready and they are looking for avenues to carry out terrorist acts in Europe and in the United States," he says.

So what exactly do those operatives want to do?

McConnell, the former Director of the National Security Agency, shifts a bit in his chair and thinks for a moment.

"Their intentions are mass casualties larger than 9/11 inside the United States," he says.

Even though al Qaida was forced to rebuild itself almost from scratch, its choice of targets hasn't changed much.

"A very large building. The Sears Tower, or some large building in Seattle or L.A. or Dallas," he says.

And because of the safe haven the National Intelligence Estimate on the Threat to the Homeland says al Qaida is enjoying in the tribal territories of Pakistan, McConnell says the terrorist group has been aggressively planning, training and shifting people.

"In some cases they've got people positioned, more in Europe -- we suspect here in the United States, but we have no clear and compelling evidence they're in the United States," McConnell says.

When asked the question we know he won't answer (how he knows all this), McConnell's answer isn't surprising.

Because he cannot discuss sources and methods, McConnell can't say how he knows all of the up-to-date and surprising details about al Qaida, but he says the information is accurate and valuable.

McConnell and other top intelligence officials agree, the U.S. is facing a tough, evolving threat.

The threat is going to require the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to be totally revamped, because McConnell says, "it's a Cold War era" law, and today's threats are exactly the opposite.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden echoes McConnell's sentiments.

"Cold War opponents were easy to find, but hard to kill, but today's terror threats are easy to kill, but hard to find," Hayden says.

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)