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Negroponte: Al-Qaida biggest terror threat
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-03 09:49
Al-Qaida is the leading terrorism threat to the United States followed by the
nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, the nation's intelligence chief said
Thursday in a forum that turned into a debate on government eavesdropping.
National
Intelligence Director John Negroponte, left, with CIA Director Porter
Goss, testifies before the U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence hearing
to examine the world threat, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006 in
Washington. Negroponte said Thursday that the al-Qaida terror network
remains the 'top concern' of the U.S. intelligence community, followed
closely by nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea. [AP] |
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US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte tried to focus on terrorist
threats, but lawmakers repeatedly returned to the uproar surrounding the
National Security Agency's surveillance program.
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Intelligence Committee's senior
Democrat, called the operations the largest NSA program within the United States
in history. He accused the Bush administration of using the program politically
while keeping the vast majority of Congress "in the dark."
Negroponte and his top deputy, Gen. Michael Hayden, fiercely defended
President Bush's authorization allowing the NSA to eavesdrop — without first
obtaining warrants — on international communications of people on U.S. soil who
may be linked to al-Qaida.
"This was not about domestic surveillance," Negroponte said in his first
public words on the subject. It was also his first public appearance before
Congress since he got his job in April. "It was about dealing with the
international terrorist threat in the most agile and effective way possible."
Neither Negroponte nor Hayden would say publicly how many people have been
monitored. Nor wood they offer details on attacks that have been averted.
Hayden called the process used to determine whether someone is linked to
al-Qaida "a science" — not an art — and asserted that the information that is
subsequently revealed is handled lawfully. Sen. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting
record), D-Ore., told him his answer wasn't good enough.
As Democratic lawmakers argued for more details, CIA Director Porter Goss
lamented the leak of classified information on a variety of ongoing intelligence
operations.
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