WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The possibility of another terror attack on the United States "keeps me awake at nights," CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate panel Tuesday.
Al-Qaida still is the top security threat to the United States, but the country's intelligence community must recognize a growing cybersecurity threat, Panetta, and the heads of the FBI and other agencies told the Senate Intelligence Committee, CNN reported.
"My greatest concern, and what keeps me awake at night, is that al-Qaida and its terrorist allies and affiliates could very well attack the United States," CIA Director Leon Panetta said.
Al-Qaida is manipulating methods to make their plots harder to detect, moving from spectacular attacks with many players to using individuals without any background in terrorism, Panetta said.
"Sensitive information is stolen daily from both government and private sector networks, undermining confidence in our information systems, and in the very information these systems were intended to convey," Dennis C. Blair, director of national intelligence, said. "Malicious cyber activity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication."
Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said, "the top threat on everyone's mind is the heightened terrorism threat, especially against the U.S. homeland" despite a growing list of national security concerns, The New York Times reported.
Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemeni offshoot of al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the failed terror attack on a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas day. Blair said the group "directed" the plot, providing training and explosives to the Nigerian suspect, who was subdued by other passengers after allegedly attempting to detonate a bomb sewn in his underwear.
