Western cadre said to boost al Qaeda's ability to hit U.S.

February 6, 2008
Western cadre said to boost al Qaeda's ability to hit U.S.

A steady stream of Western recruits to al Qaeda camps on the Pakistani border bolsters the group's ability to strike the United States, the nation's top intelligence official said Tuesday.

Those camps are preparing recruits to carry out terror attacks around the world, and are also a staging ground for assaults on neighboring Afghanistan, said National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.

"Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S.: the identification, training and positioning of operatives for an attack on the homeland," McConnell testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.