Feinstein And Rogers Say Terrorism Threat To US Is Increasing [View all]

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Associated Press in Washington
theguardian.com, Sunday 1 December 2013 12.56 EST

The terrorism threat against the United States is increasing and Americans are not as safe as they were a year or two ago, the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees said on Sunday.

Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Mike Rogers appeared together on CNN's State of the Union, on the day that al-Qaida's US spokesperson called for attacks on US interests around the world. Rogers said al-Qaida groups had changed their means of communication as a result of leaks about US surveillance programs, making it harder to detect potential plots in the early planning stages.

"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."

Feinstein, a California Democrat, said there were more terrorist groups than ever, with more sophisticated and hard-to-detect bombs. She said: "There is huge malevolence out there."

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/feinstein-rogers-terrorism-threat-intelligence-committees