(Fox News) - CIA Director David Petraeus, in his first public appearance since taking the helm of the agency, said Tuesday that al-Qaida's leadership has been driven underground but that its affiliates and sympathizers pose an increasingly dangerous threat to the US.
Petraeus said successful takedowns of key al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden earlier this year, have made the terror network "much weaker and less capable" than when it attacked America ten years ago on Sept. 11, 2001.
He said bin Laden's replacement, Ayman al Zawahiri, is seen by the al-Qaida base as "less compelling," and the organization is "struggling to find qualified replacements" for other operatives and leaders. The attention of leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas has shifted from terror plotting to "security and survival," Petraeus said, noting that the decimation of al-Qaida leadership presents a "window of vulnerability" for the US to exploit.
But, in a hearing before the House intelligence committee, Petraeus said al-Qaida's offshoots around the world are filling the void. He pointed to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, as "the most dangerous regional node in the global jihad."
The group was behind the failed plot to bomb a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day 2009 and the plot to send bombs hidden in printers on cargo jets last year. Petraeus also expressed concern about affiliates and sympathizers in Somalia, Nigeria, Algeria and Iraq.
Petraeus commanded US military forces in Iraq, and later in Afghanistan, before taking the CIA directorship. He said al Qaeda in Iraq has suffered "significant losses" since the 2007 troop surge but is still capable of carrying out sensational attacks.
While al-Qaida's mission of terror is "shifting" to affiliates, Petraeus said, the core remains "committed" to attacking US citizens. He said the US will need to keep pressure on the network for the "long haul."
The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, echoed Petraeus' comments. He said the "relentless pressure" on al-Qaida has weakened the organization, but "the stark fact is that we remain threatened."
"It would be an error to conclude that we have reason to gloat, reason to soften our focus," he said. "The terrorists still wish to do us harm, destroy our institutions, and to kill Americans without conscience."
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