WASHINGTON – US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned on Wednesday that the threat of terrorism against the United States was in some ways ‘at its most heightened state’ since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
In addition to the threats by al Qaeda, Napolitano said the country faced new threats from those inspired by the group and those already inside the United States.
“The threat continues to evolve and in some ways the threat today may be at its most heightened state since the attacks nearly 10 years ago,” Napolitano told the US House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee.
She also said in her testimony that the US officials believe there may be individuals who want to carry out attacks already in the country and that they could carry out acts of violence with little or no warning.
“As I have said before, we cannot guarantee that there will never be another terrorist attack, and we cannot seal our country under a glass dome,” Napolitano said. “However, we continue to do everything we can to reduce the risk of terrorism in our nation.”
The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, told the committee that the al Qaeda off-shoot based in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), at the moment represented the biggest threat to the United States.
