Intelligence officials reported that in 2009, the Obama administration killed more senior al-Qaeda leaders in drone attacks along the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan than the Bush administration did in the three years before. This has affected how the group is communicating, getting money and planning their strikes. It has caused problems for them to do all three.
Now there is concern that 2010 could see more terrorist plots targeted at the U.S.
Intelligence officials explain that al-Qaeda is reaching out to affiliate groups to launch attacks for them. Al-Qaeda’s outsourcing has led to a lot more groups trying to launch an attack, seeking recruits and hoping to find vulnerable points in American targets. In addition to asking others to carry out attacks, al-Qaeda is actually sending some of its operatives to help train these groups.
This all comes with the added caveat of homegrown terrorists such as the group of young men from the Washington, D.C., area who went to Pakistan in hopes of training for jihad. Another example is the more than two dozen Somali-Americans have left Minneapolis over the past two years to join al-Shabab, a terrorist group in Somalia.
Counterterrorism officials say 2010 will be a busy year for them.
See NPR for more.
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