Interestingly, since the election, we have heard nothing from this administration about terrorist/Al Qaeda, and Bin Laden. Instead, we have seen signs that the Bush admin is focused on Iran and Syria. I am wondering if this focus is to prepare Americans for another preemptive strike. Today, we have the CIA and FBI telling Congress they are concerned about an Al Qaeda attack on the US with WMDs--not because they have new evidence or intelligence, but they are basing their concerns on lack of evidence--they say it isn't what they are hearing--it is what they are not hearing.
More interesting, at the hearing, an admiral states that Iran is a dangerous threat to US interest in the Middle East. I wonder if this is Bush's way of manipulating Americans into supporting another war--this time with Iran and Syria by bringing back the fear of terrorist in the US, knowing that most Americans would rather fight the terrorist in the ME and not at home.

Feb 16, 1:08 PM (ET)

By KATHERINE SHRADER

(WASHINGTON (AP) - Al-Qaida and associated groups top the list of threats to the United States, leading government intelligence officials told Congress on Wednesday in a grim assessment that also highlighted Iran's emergence as a major threat to American interests in the Middle East.

Despite gains made against al-Qaida and other affiliates, CIA Director Porter Goss, in an unusually blunt statement before the mostly secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, said the terror group is intent on finding ways to circumvent U.S. security enhancements to attack the homeland.

"It may be only a matter of time before al-Qaida or other groups attempt to use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. We must focus on that," Goss said.

FBI Director Robert Mueller cautioned of the risk posed by radicalized Muslim converts inside the United States and said he worries about a sleeper operative who may have been in place for years, awaiting orders launch an attack.

"I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing," he said in his prepared remarks.

More than three years since the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Goss, Mueller and other intelligence leaders provided these and other bleak assessments at the annual briefing on threats from around the globe.

Also at the hearing, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, painted Iran as a leading threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. In his prepared testimony, Jacoby said he believes that Iran will continue its support for terrorism and aid for insurgents in Iraq.

He said the country's long-term goal is to expel the United States from the region, and noted that political reform movements there have lost momentum.

Goss said that Islamic extremists are exploiting the conflict in Iraq and fighters there represent a "potential pool of contacts" to build transnational terror groups. He said the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, hopes to establish Iraq as a safe-haven to bring about a final victory over the West.

Goss also said that the intelligence community has yet to get to the "end of the trail" of the nuclear black market run by disgraced Pakistani scientist, A.Q. Khan. Goss wouldn't rule out the possibility that organizations, rather than states, could obtain nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

He also couldn't assure senators that the United States doesn't face a threat from nuclear weapons that may be missing from Russia.

In the past year, the intelligence community has been faced with a series of negative reports, including the work of the Sept. 11 commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee's inquiry on the flawed Iraq intelligence.

And next month, President Bush's commission to investigate the intelligence community's capabilities on weapons of mass destruction is also expected to submit its findings.

Given the after-the-fact investigations into the Iraq intelligence, Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, said his panel will become more proactive in how it reviews the intelligence community's strengths and weaknesses, already focusing on nuclear terrorism and Iran.

In related developments:

_Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also sent out a warning, telling the House Armed Services Committee he believes terrorists are regrouping for another strike. But he also said the United States is preparing to deal with any threat.

"The extremists continue to plot to attack again. They are at this moment recalibrating and reorganizing. And so are we," the Pentagon chief said.

_Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plugged the administration's request for $5.8 billion to fight terrorism and also made a pitch on Capitol Hill for an additional $750 million this year for other countries that assisted in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Senate hearing came as the White House continues its eight-week-long search for a new national intelligence director, a position created in last year's intelligence reorganization bill.

Democrats were critical Wednesday of the pace of the search, saying the administration has not shown the same urgency that Congress showed in creating the position.

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