Terrorism threat against US increasing: Intel chairs
![Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein flanked by House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers to the left and Senate Intelligence Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss to the right.]()
“The more efforts [extremists] try, the more perfect you have to be in trying to stop something, and that's a challenge," he said.
Rogers and Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared on the show together to discuss terrorism threats on the same day that al-Qaeda’s US spokesperson called for attacks on American interests around the world.
“There are more groups than ever and there is huge malevolence out there,” Sen. Feinstein said. “The fatalities are way up, the numbers [of attacks] are way up, there are new bombs - very big bombs -- trucks being reinforced for those bombs; bombs can get through magnetometers [and onto planes].”
Rogers said recent leaks about US surveillance programs had hampered the intelligence community’s ability to ensure Americans were safe.
"We're fighting amongst ourselves here in this country about the role of our intelligence community that it is having an impact on our ability to stop what is a growing number of threats," he said. "And so we've got to shake ourselves out of this pretty soon and understand that our intelligence services are not the bad guys."
The lawmaker added that al-Qaeda has changed its means of communication as a result of US intelligence leaks, making it even more difficult to detect an attack before it becomes operational.
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden began leaking classified intelligence documents in June. The leaks revealed that the NSA has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans, as well as the email content of messages going overseas.
Sen. Feinstein is pushing legislation to protect NSA programs but require more congressional reporting.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein flanked by House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers to the left and Senate Intelligence Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss to the right.
Mon Dec 2, 2013 4:53AM GMT
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The leaders of congressional intelligence panels say terrorism threat against the United States is increasing and that the intelligence community has less ability to counter “a growing number of threats."
“The threat level has never been more diverse than it is today,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.“The more efforts [extremists] try, the more perfect you have to be in trying to stop something, and that's a challenge," he said.
Rogers and Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared on the show together to discuss terrorism threats on the same day that al-Qaeda’s US spokesperson called for attacks on American interests around the world.
“There are more groups than ever and there is huge malevolence out there,” Sen. Feinstein said. “The fatalities are way up, the numbers [of attacks] are way up, there are new bombs - very big bombs -- trucks being reinforced for those bombs; bombs can get through magnetometers [and onto planes].”
Rogers said recent leaks about US surveillance programs had hampered the intelligence community’s ability to ensure Americans were safe.
"We're fighting amongst ourselves here in this country about the role of our intelligence community that it is having an impact on our ability to stop what is a growing number of threats," he said. "And so we've got to shake ourselves out of this pretty soon and understand that our intelligence services are not the bad guys."
The lawmaker added that al-Qaeda has changed its means of communication as a result of US intelligence leaks, making it even more difficult to detect an attack before it becomes operational.
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden began leaking classified intelligence documents in June. The leaks revealed that the NSA has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans, as well as the email content of messages going overseas.
Sen. Feinstein is pushing legislation to protect NSA programs but require more congressional reporting.