Lead Official in Bush Administration Sept. 11 Response Plays Down Al-Qaeda Nuclear Threat

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A key figure in the White House response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks today scoffed at the idea that the global terrorist network could carry off a nuclear strike (see GSN, Sept. 21).

A radiological attack by the terrorist group is a concern, but not a nuclear bomb, said former National Security Council Transnational Threats Director Roger Cressey.

“I’m not as worried about [al-Qaeda head Osama] bin Laden with a nuke, per se,” Cressey said at a Brookings Institution terrorism conference. “I’m worried about an RDD.”

“The big mushroom cloud threat? I don’t buy it,” said Cressey, now the president of Good Harbor Consulting and an analyst for NBC News.

However, former Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Richard Falkenrath, called the prospect of al-Qaeda with a nuclear weapon “a long-standing and very serious concern.”

During the panel discussion on the state of al-Qaeda, experts agreed that the terrorist organization has changed dramatically since the 2001 attacks, becoming less centralized. “Al-Qaeda as we knew it pre-9/11 doesn’t exist any more,” Falkenrath said.

Falkenrath praised the government for preventing any subsequent attacks on U.S. soil but called the failure to apprehend bin Laden “simply an outrage.” The balance sheet on post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts is basically unsatisfactory, he said.

“I’m worried that …it’s slipping and it’s becoming a sort of B-list issue,” Falkenrath said.

Cressey said the United States must do more to understand the operational potential of what remains of al-Qaeda following the post-9/11 captures and killings of many in the group’s leadership.

“We’ve got a really good idea of what this adversary’s intent is,” Cressey said. “What we don’t know is what the capability is.”

Cressey added that Italy, because it has supported the United States and has done comparatively little to suppress terrorists within its borders, is likely to be the next target for the anti-Western forces.

“I think there’s a pretty good belief that Italy is next on the al-Qaeda-inspired/al-Qaeda-directed hit list,” he said.

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