U.S. faces dangers beyond al Qaeda, director warns WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA Director George Tenet told Congress on Wednesday that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network remain the most serious threat to U.S. security, but stressed there are other dangers exist worldwide that should not be ignored. Tenet spoke publicly for the first time since the September 11 attacks when he appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The CIA has faced occasional harsh criticism for not knowing about the attacks, and Tenet found himself defending the agency. "All of us, I think, owe the American people an explanation as to why our intelligence community failed to provide adequate warning of such a terrorist attack on our soil," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, vice chairman of the committee. When it comes to stopping terrorists, Tenet replied, "you are not going to ever be 100 percent." "When people use the word 'failure,' failure means no focus, no attention, no discipline, and those were not present in what we or the FBI did here or around the world," Tenet said. Tenet said progress has been made in disrupting al Qaeda operations, pointing to the arrests of close to 1,000 al Qaeda operatives in more than 60 countries, but he said al Qaeda continues to plot future attacks. "We know that they will continue to plan," Tenet said. "We know that they will hurt us again. We have to minimize, we have to minimize, we have to minimize their ability to do so because there is no perfection in this business." Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, asked how American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh was able to meet bin Laden, but the CIA could not penetrate the organization. Tenet said Roberts' assertion was not true, but did not elaborate in the open session. The suggestion that the CIA had not infiltrated al Qaeda was incorrect, an aide to Tenet said later. Areas of unrest The threat of terrorism stretches beyond al Qaeda, Tenet said. The United States must remain informed about the political and economic instabilities in several countries, he said. For example: -- Pakistan and India are closer to war than at any point in 30 years. Tenet said a war between them could escalate into a nuclear conflict. -- Iran is pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile capabilities. It continues to support terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Tenet said. -- Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is also seeking weapons of mass destruction, Tenet said. He said Iraq has a long history of supporting terrorists and might work with al Qaeda, despite "divergent ideologies." -- Russia and China continue to sell missiles and other weapons technologies and expertise to Iran and other unreliable nations, he said. -- North Korea continues exporting complete ballistic missiles and related technology to other countries, including Egypt, Libya, Syria and Iran, Tenet said. Profits from those sales have been used to develop new weapons, he said. -- Somalia's lack of a national government has created "an environment in which groups sympathetic to al Qaeda have offered terrorists and an operational base and safe haven." Poverty and political instability of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa has created a breeding ground for terrorist recruiters, Tenet said. Over the next two decades, those regions will have the highest populations of youths who are most likely to become terrorists, he said. not too assuring <<<
