A Moroccannetwork

These include the Salifiya Jihadia, a Moroccannetwork that carried out the May 2003 Casablanca bombings,and similar groups throughout Africa and Asia. These far-flung groups increasingly set the agenda, and are redefiningthe threat we face. They are not all creatures of Bin Ladin,and so their fate is not tied to his. They have autonomousleadership, they pick their own targets, and they plan theirown attacks. Beyond these groups are the so-called"foreign jihadists." These Rosetta Stone software individuals are ready to fightanywhere they believe Muslim lands are under attack by whatthey see as "infidel invaders." They draw on broad supportnetworks, have wide appeal, and enjoy a growing sense ofsupport from Muslims who are not necessarily supporters ofterrorism. The foreign jihadists see Iraq as a goldenopportunity. Let me repeat: for the growing number ofjihadists interested in attacking the United States, aspectacular attack on the US Homeland is the brass ring thatmany strive for, with or without encouragement byal-Qa'ida's central leadership. To detect and ultimatelydefeat these forces, we will continually need to watchhotspots, present or potential battlegrounds, and placeswhere these terrorist networks converge. Iraq is of courseone major locus of concern. Southeast Asia is another. Soare the backyards of our closest allies. Even Western Europeis an area where terrorists recruit, train, and target. - To get the global job done, foreign governments will needto improve bilateral and multilateral, and eveninter-service cooperation. They also will have to strengthendomestic counterterrorist legislation and securitypractices. Al-Qa'ida's interest in chemical, biological,radiological, and nuclear weapons is strong. Acquiring theseis a religious obligation in Bin Ladin's eyes. Al-Qa'ida andmore than two dozen other terrorist groups are pursuingthese materials. Over the last year, we have also seen anincrease in the threat of more sophisticated weaponry. Forthis reason we take very seriously the threat of a chemical,biological, or radiological attack. - We particularlysee a heightened risk of poison attacks. Contemplateddelivery methods to date have been simple but this maychange as non-al- Qa'ida groups share information on moresophisticated methods and tactics. 32 - Extremistshave widely disseminated assembly Rosetta Stone Chinese instructions for animprovised chemical weapon using common materials that couldcause a large numbers of casualties in a crowded, enclosedarea. - Although gaps in our understanding remain, wesee al-Qa'ida's program to produce anthrax as one of themost immediate terrorist mass casualty threats we are likelyto face. - Al-Qa'ida continues to pursue its strategicgoal of obtaining a nuclear capability. It remainsinterested in dirty bombs. Terrorist documents containaccurate views of how such weapons would be used. Otherterrorist organizations also threaten US interests.Palestinian terrorist groups in Israel, the West Bank, andGaza remain a formidable threat and continue to useterrorism to undermine prospects for peace. - Last yearPalestinian terrorist groups conducted more than 600attacks, killing about 200 Israelis and foreigners,including Americans. - Lebanese Hizballah cooperateswith these groups and appears to be increasing its support.It is also working with Iran and surrogate groups in Iraqand would likely react to an attack against it, Syria, orIran with attacks against US and Israeli targets worldwide. - Iran and Syria continue to support terrorist groups,and their links into Iraq have become problematic to ourefforts there. Finally, cyber vulnerabilities are anotherof our concerns, with terrorists, foreign governments,hackers, crime groups, and industrial spies all attemptingto obtain information from our computer networks. The WarAhead Since September 11, we have been essentiallyresponsive threat by threat. I expect to continue todiscover terrorists' plans, to warn of threats, to analyzethe terrorists' capabilities. Our challenge - mine, thegovernment's, and the American people 's - is to turn thewarnings into actions that can save lives. The first stepin that process is to manage our risk more effectively. Weneed to fine-tune our defensive response so that we arereducing the risk from the threat we have identified. Onesize does not fit all. We need to become more agile inour response. For example, we can adopt sector-by-sectorapproaches, as we did during this last holiday season. Welearned of threats to specific Rosetta Stone French flights and we tookcountermeasures without disrupting large portions 33 of theairline industry. At times we may need quieter approaches toavoid alerting the people we are trying to stop. At othertimes we may need a nationwide alert - a brute forceresponse so that terrorists see what we are doing andretreat.