WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that an intelligence report released today confirmed that America is safer than it was before the September 11th attacks, but warned that the United States must not grow complacent in fighting terrorism worldwide.

“Today’s report confirms that our terror fighting tools and efforts are working. We must continue to use everything in our arsenal to protect Americans from another terrorist attack.”

The Director of National Intelligence released key findings from the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland today. The NIE found that efforts to combat terrorism worldwide have been effective. These efforts have prevented al-Qa’ida from attacking the United States since the September 11th attacks in 2001 and have disrupted known terrorist plots. In addition, other terrorist groups now perceive the United States as a harder target to strike.

While America is safer, there are still threats around the world, Bond warned. The United States must remain vigilant in fighting terrorists – at home and abroad. The NIE notes that the al-Qa’ida leadership continues to plan attacks. Also, the safehaven it enjoys along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has likely increased its capabilities to attack the United States. Bond emphasized that these findings do not mean, as some erroneously reported last week, that al-Qa’ida is as strong as it was before the September 11th attacks.

Bond also expressed concern with the NIE’s finding that international counterterrorism cooperation may wane as September 11th becomes a more distant memory. Bond stressed that it is critical that Congress continues to give law enforcement and the intelligence community the tools needed to track, interrogate and prosecute terrorist like the Patriot Act and modernization of the 1979 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

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