Panetta: U.S. faces new terror threats

WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida, at its weakest point since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is using other ways to threaten the United States, CIA Director Leon Panetta said.

Panetta, speaking to ABC's "This Week" Sunday, spoke on recent instances of threats to the United States from lone or home-grown terrorists as in the cases of the failed bombing attempts of Times Square and the Christmas Day Detroit flight or the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings.

"I think what's happened is that the more we put pressure on the al-Qaida leadership in the tribal areas in Pakistan -- and I would say that as a result of our operations that the Taliban leadership is probably at its weakest point since (Sept. 11) and their escape from Afghanistan into Pakistan," Panetta said in the interview.

"Having said that, they clearly are continuing to plan, continuing to try to attack this country, and they are using other ways to do it."

Panetta said al-Qaida is "using somebody who doesn't have a record in terrorism," which makes it tougher to track.

"If they're using people who are already here, who are in hiding and suddenly decide to come out and do an attack, that's another potential threat that they're engaged in," Panetta said. Other tactics include using an individual "who decides to self-radicalize" as happened in the Fort Hood shootings.

Panetta said he thought the United States was "doing a good job" of moving against the new threats. He said those kinds of threats represent "the most serious" to the United States currently.