Identfying Attacks Becoming Increasingly More Difficult, Says Blair

By ChingYu Wang - Talk Radio News Service

When asked during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday whether or not the U.S. can adequately prevent future terrorist attacks, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said "as a result [of] the recent rash of the attacks last year both successful and unsuccessful, identifying individual terrorists, smaller groups, short histories, using simple attack methods is a much more difficult task."

Blair identified the current violent extremism facing the U.S. as a tough situation and said the intelligence community is "working hard to improve."

"The violent extremism threat is evolving," Blair added.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) questioned Blair on whether the U.S. has adequate resources in place to prevent future terror attacks from happening. Replied Blair, "however much we improve, we cannot count on intelligence to catch and identify every threat."

Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) asked Blair to address issue of the intelligence community leaking information to the media prior to informing Congress.

"We are emphasizing administrative measures, which we can take with any agency, to investigate quickly, to check the various ways of keeping in track of what our people are doing," said Blair.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) , the committee's Ranking Member, told Blair that the intelligence community's biggest concern should be the growing trend of enemy groups recruiting Americans to fight against their country. "There's nothing more dangerous to this country than Americans who have joined the enemy," said Hoekstra.

Blair responded by saying, "We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community. If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that."

Economy and Environment are National Security Threats

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on threats to the United States. In his written statement, he said that, “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications.” Blair said that time was of the essence, because “statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one to two year period.” The threat to nations both politically and economically could affect regional stability, and could prevent America’s allies from fully meeting their defense and humanitarian responsibilities.

Blair highlighted a number of nations which have specific security concerns to the United States, including Iran and Afghanistan, but Blair brought up broader security concerns. Among these broader concerns were resource scarcity, overpopulation, and climate change. Blair said that by 2025 more than one billion people will be added to the world population, which will exacerbate the food and water shortages in some areas. Blair continued that this larger world population will use more energy, which would fuel climate change. This could lead to a quicker rise in sea-levels, as well as widespread health problems and agricultural losses. He said, “such a complex and unprecedented syndrome of problems could cause outright state failure, or weaken the important pivotal states counted on to act as anchors of regional stability.”

Obama names key intelligence positions, comments on unemployment

President Elect Obama named nominees for key intelligence positions. Former Clinton Chief of Staff Leon Panetta was nominated as CIA director and Retired Admiral Dennis Blair was nominated as National Intelligence Director.

Additionally, Director John Michael McConnell will offer counsel through the President Elect's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, Michael Leiter will continue as the head of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, and CIA veteran John Brennan will serve as Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism.

Brennan was an earlier contender for the CIA Director position, but pulled himself out of the running after facing criticism for perceived ties with the several of the Bush administration's controversial interrogation and detention policies.

Obama stated that Panetta would be a strong CIA Director and explained his managerial skills.

"He knows how to focus resources where they are needed, and he has a proven track record of building consensus and working on a bipartisan basis with Congress. I am confident that he will strengthen the CIA's capability to protect the American people as it continues to adapt to our reformed intelligence community," said Obama during a press conference in Washington D.C.

The President Elect also lauded Blair's past as a former National Security Council staffer and Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support, explaining that the position qualified Blair to build bridges amongst different security institutions.

Both Blair and Panetta made similar pledges to provide the President Elect with the accurate intelligence and analysis, promising that they would not just tell Obama what he wanted to hear.

Following a question regarding U.S. interrogation techniques, Obama pledged that under his administration there will be no torture.

The President Elect also touched upon the recent unemployment crisis,

"My staff and I have been engaged in a constructive dialogue with members of Congress over the last few days and weeks about my American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan which will save or create at least 3 million jobs, and make long-term investments in the critical areas of energy, health care and education."