WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller, in a wide-ranging news conference at bureau headquarters Friday, said al Qaida still may be capable of launching another massive terrorist attack against the United States.
The FBI chief said U.S. forces and law enforcement have "disrupted" the terrorist organization's operations, finances and staging areas, "but nonetheless, they retain the ability to hit us."
In response to a reporter's question, he said al Qaida, which the United States blames for the devastating terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was still capable of launching another such attack in this country.
"I wouldn't discount it," Mueller said. "I wouldn't discount it at all."
Earlier in the news conference, Mueller said the country had to be prepared for other types of crises, such as the sniper attacks in the Washington area that claimed 10 lives.
Two suspects, John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were arrested in the sniper investigation last week.
Mueller said because the nation's communities remain vulnerable, the FBI has to keep assets in different regions for a quick response.
"You never know where this is going to hit," Mueller said. "It happened to hit in this area, but it (the sniper attacks) could just as easily have been anywhere in the United States."
The FBI director conceded that the investigation of the sniper was sidetracked by bad information, particularly reports by credible witnesses and one witness who the FBI believes was lying, that the suspects were using a white van.
"You do divert resources," he said, "when you have (an allegedly false) witness who comes out and gives you a vehicle and a description."
Despite news reports of squabbling among federal and state law enforcement, Mueller said the team of federal, state and local officers performed very well together.
"It's somewhat distressing," Mueller said of the squabbling reports. "When you have hundreds of agents (and officers)" in an investigation, "you will always find some who were dissatisfied ... To a certain extent, I think it (the squabbling) has been mischaracterized" by the media.
As for the three weeks it took to arrest suspects in the case, "you always wish you could have solved it earlier," Mueller said, but once investigators received a phone tip -- purportedly from one of the suspects -- to check on a related murder in Alabama, the multi-agency law enforcement team "moved with exceptional speed."
Mueller also answered questions on the continuing anthrax investigation. More than a year ago, anthrax spores sent through the mail killed five people in Florida, New York and the Washington area.
FBI profilers theorized that the anthrax killer could be a scientist or a technician with access to a lab that handled anthrax.
Mueller said the FBI has "no update to that profile that was given (to the public) last year," but investigators were keeping an open mind. "A profile is a signpost and nothing more than that."
He added, "We have never ruled out any scenario, and to the extent that leads come up ... whether it's leads to individuals or means of manufacture," the FBI will follow.
As for suspects, "We are continuing to look at a number of individuals," Mueller said.
