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Top 4 threats against America: the good and bad news

America’s top spy chiefs and intelligence experts come together every year to share their best guesses about the biggest threats that will face the country in the year ahead. Here are the top four pieces of good and bad news to come out of the annual threat-assessment hearing in Congress Tuesday.

6. Al Qaeda: bad news

Ali Abu Shish/REUTERS/File
Al Qaeda was blamed for his car bomb attack in Najaf, Iraq, in August 2011.

  • By Anna Mulrine Staff writer

While core Al Qaeda may diminish in importance, it remains a powerful brand name. The leadership of Al Qaeda will become more decentralized and affiliate groups will continue to plan and attempt terrorist attacks.

“Terrorist groups and individuals sympathetic to the jihadist movement will have access to the recruits, financing, arms, and explosives, and the safe havens needed to execute operations,” according to the assessment.

This does not bode well for Iraq in particular. Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) “has been a bit more active than it was for quite some period,” Central Intelligence Agency director Gen. David Petraeus told lawmakers Tuesday.

In the months to come, AQI “will remain focused on overthrowing the Shia-led government in Baghdad in favor of a Sunni-led Islamic caliphate, according to the threat, which warned “we are watchful for indications that AQI aspires to conduct attacks in the West.”

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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