Looking to provoke US reaction? Bin Laden
Photo: Reuters
'Brace yourself.' Obama
Photo: AFP
Report: Global financial crisis increasing terror threat
Intelligence officials tell Washington Post economic turmoil heightened short-term risk of terror attack, adding crisis may threaten survival of regimes friendly to US. The Times: Global leaders tell Obama to brace himself for early assault from terrorists
The Washington Post quoted intelligence officials as saying that the deepening global economic crisis could weaken fragile governments in the world's most dangerous areas and undermine the ability of the United States and its allies to respond to a new wave of security threats.
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US government officials and private analysts told the newspaper that the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term risk of a terrorist attack, as extremist groups probe for weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East while forcing Western nations to cut spending on defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources were quoted by the Washington Post as saying.
Published Saturday, the report said "some of the more troubling and immediate scenarios analysts are weighing involve nuclear-armed Pakistan, which already was being battered by inflation and unemployment before the global financial tsunami hit. Since September, Pakistan has seen its national currency devalued and its hard-currency reserves nearly wiped out.
"Analysts also worry about the impact of plummeting crude prices on oil-dependent nations such as Yemen, which has a large population of unemployed youths and a history of support for militant Islamic groups," the Washington Post said.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the newspaper that the underlying problems and trends - especially regional instability and the waning influence of the West - were already well established, but they are now "being accelerated by the current global financial crisis."
McConnell, the report said, is among several top US intelligence officials warning that deep cuts in military and intelligence budgets could undermine the country's ability to anticipate and defend against new threats.
'America is still evil crusader'
The Washington Post quoted intelligence officials as saying that they have no hard evidence of a pending terrorist attack, and CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a news conference Thursday that his agency has not detected increased al-Qaeda communications or other signs of an imminent strike.
However, the report claimed, many government and private terrorism experts say the financial crisis has given al-Qaeda an opening, and judging from public statements and intercepted communications, senior al-Qaeda leaders are "elated by the West's economic troubles, which they regard as a vindication of their efforts and a sign of the superpower's weakness."
Bruce Hoffman, a former scholar-in-residence at the CIA and now a professor at Georgetown University told the Washington Post that "al-Qaeda's propaganda arm is constantly banging the drum saying that the US economy is on the precipice - and it's the force of the jihadists that's going to push us over the edge."
According to the report, US officials say Osama bin Laden has traditionally picked times of transition to launch major strikes. The two major al-Qaeda-linked attacks on US soil - the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the 2001 hijackings - occurred in the early months of new administrations.
The Times reported that US President-elect Barack Obama is being given ominous advice from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to brace himself for an early assault from terrorists.
The London-based newspaper quoted Home Office Security Minister Lord West of Spithead as saying “there is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring this.”
James Lewis, a security expert with the Center of Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told The Times that al-Qaeda may wish to provoke a reaction from the next US Administration designed to show the rest of the world that “America is still the evil crusader”.
