Atlantic Council

The Global Intelligence Forum hosted CIA Director General Michael Hayden at the offices of the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to the Atlantic Council and a live C-SPAN audience on the "State of al Qaeda Today."

Hayden stated that al Qaeda remains the most dangerous threat to the safety of the U.S., and outlined his three main points in the war on terror. First, that although Al-Qaeda has suffered serious setbacks, it remains a determined and adaptive enemy. Second, Al-Qaeda is both "resillient and vulnerable." And third, that the safe havens afforded by the rugged terrain along the Afghan-Pakistan border remains the most clear and present danger to the safety of the U.S. Additionally, Hayden stated that al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) were on the verge of strategic defeat.

He went on to say that although the U.S. population may have become complacent in the fight against al Qaeda, the CIA is under no illusions as to the threat they still pose. The U.S. nation is engaged in a global war, and has "never faced an enemy so committed to our destruction," he told to a broadcast audience that went out to BBC, C-SPAN, and every other major television news network in the U.S.

Transcript:

• Federal News Service

Video:

• C-SPAN (full one hour, 10 minute event )
• CNN report (approx. 4 minutes)

Participants:

• Gen Michael Hayden (USAF, Ret.) - CIA Director
• Lt Gen Brent Scowcroft (USAF, Ret.) - The Scowcroft Group
• Frederick Kempe - Atlantic Council
• MajGen Arnold Punaro (USMC, Ret.) - Vice President, SAIC
  

Related Events:

• General McCaffrey: Report from Afghanistan
• U.S.-Pakistan Need 'Strategic Partnership'
• Council Hosts Pakistan Experts

Related Commentary on New Atlanticist Blog:

• Covering Intelligence is Hard - James Joyner
• Every Major Terrorist Threat Has Ties to Pakistan - James Joyner
• Pakistan's Perfect Storm - Shuja Nawaz
• Pakistan's Strategic Moment - Jeffrey Lightfoot
• Stuck in Time: The Next President Needs a New Worldview - Derek Reveron
• Winning in Afghanistan: Whose Side is Pakistan Really On? - James Joyner

Media Coverage:

• C.I.A. Chief Says Qaeda Is Extending Its Reach - Mark Mazzetti, New York Times
• CIA Chief: Iraq Not Main Front - Walter Pincus, Washington Post
• CIA says bin Laden cut off from al-Qaeda - Nico Hines, Times of London
• CIA warns of increase in 'western' terrorists - Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian
• CIA's Hayden says al-Qaida still greatest threat - Pamela Hess, Associated Press
• Bin Laden is isolated, Qaeda resilient: CIA chief -  Agence France-Presse
• Qaeda stung by U.S. pressure in Pakistan-CIA chief - Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters
• CIA head says bin Laden isolated, fighting to survive - CNN
• CIA Director: Al-Qaida Remains No. 1 Threat To U.S. - Tom Gjelten, NPR [AUDIO]
• CIA Director says al Qaeda Much Weaker in Southeast Asia - Alex Kingsbury, U.S. News
• CIA Chief: Bin Laden Alive, Worried About 'Own Security' - Jason Ryan and Brian Ross, ABC
• CIA Chief Says Al-Qaeda Resilient, But Vulnerable - Andrew Tully, Radio Free Europe
• Bin Laden Is Alive and 'Largely Isolated,' CIA Director Says - Jeff Bliss, Bloomberg
• Hayden praises Pakistan’s actions - Associated Press of Pakistan

Other Blogger Reactions:

• CIA: OBL alive, keeping fit by dodging missiles - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
• Every Major Terrorist Threat Has Ties to Pakistan - James Joyner, Outside the Beltway
• CIA Director Calls al Qaeda Resilient and Vulnerable - Kenneth J. Dillon, Blogger News Network
• CIA Chief on Transition Danger: 'No Chatter' from Qaeda Right Now - Jeff Stein, SpyTalk
• It Doesn't Take Intelligence: 'Change' Is Coming - James Gordon Meek, Counterterrorism Blog

 The Global Intelligence Forum is generously supported by SAIC.