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NCTC Downplays Hasan Connection to al Qaeda when questioned by McCaul

02/09/11
NCTC Downplays Hasan Connection to al Qaeda as "Inspiration", not "Direction", when questioned by McCaul
Says agents will be more aggressive toward radicalization


McCaul prepares to question Secretary Napolitano and Director Leiter during today's Homeland Security hearing on Understanding the Homeland Threat Landscape. (McCaul staff photo)
  • Transcript below of exchanges between Congressman McCaul and Michael Leiter, Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) on the Fort Hood shootings and between McCaul and Secretary Napolitano on operational security of the US-MX border.  
  • Video of exchange with both Leiter and Napolitano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIyHHpwK2F0.  
Unofficial Hearing Transcript:
 
MCCAUL:  Some said that was not an act of terrorism; I said it was.  I think it is the deadliest attack we’ve had since 9/11.  Since that time the Senate has created a report called “A Ticking Time Bomb.”  In that report it talks about how the Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego had information about Major Hasan’s contacts, with what you described, Director, as the most dangerous threat to the United States security, and that’s Al-Awlaki.  Unfortunately that information was not shared with the commander, General Cone, at Fort Hood, who I talked to and I said “wouldn’t you have liked to have known that?”  When the attack took place, the FBI agent was quoted as saying “You know who that is.  That’s our boy.”  Can you tell this Committee and the American People what happened that day and what Major Hasan’s connections are to the terrorist community?
LEITER:  Congressman, to begin I would just say at NCTC within about 48 hours of that attack we designated that a terrorist attack in what we called a worldwide incident tracking system, so from our perspective as soon as we had the initial indication of the motivation we counted it as a terrorist attack, it can always change back, but in this case it hasn’t.  With respect to his connection to Anwar al-Awlaki and AQAP, and I want to be very careful here because obviously this is still a case for prosecution, but we’ve said publicly it looks to us like inspiration rather than direction.  Finally, your question about what happened; I want to be careful to not speak for Director Mueller or the Department of Defense.  I think they said quite clearly at the time that information was not shared effectively between the FBI and the Department of Defense and they have taken remedial action to address some of that.  I know for NCTC’s part, since then we have worked with the FBI to produce improved training materials and training for our field officers so there really is no question for the next special agent when he is investigating the case and he will recognize the tell tale signs of radicalization and moving towards mobilization and not just convey that to the Department of Defense, but probably be more aggressive in following that up.
MCCAUL:  I think for the American people it’s hard to understand- and we can talk about infiltration of the military, the threat is there, but it’s hard for the average citizen to understand how the FBI could have this kind of information that you have a Major at the biggest installation in the United States in contact with one of the biggest threats to the security of the United States and yet that information is not shared at all.  I think that’s a major breakdown and I know it’s not totally within your prevue and jurisdiction, but I sure hope we can fix that problem.  
 
MCCAUL:  Madam Secretary, you were quoted in The Hill newspaper as saying that with respect to the border “it’s inaccurate to state that the border is out of control.”  We had a briefing with Border Patrol that about 44% of the border is under operational control.  As you well know the killings and violence going on- coming from Arizona, me coming from Texas- I would say my constituents do view it as an out of control state.  (Apprehension of) special interest aliens have increased by 37%, those are persons coming from countries that have potentially terrorist influences.  There was recently a potential terrorist found in the trunk of a car; paid the Mexican cartel $5,000 to sneak across the border.  Could you clarify your statement that it is not out of control down there? 
NAPOLITANO:  Absolutely.  First, and I will give you the full talk that I gave at UTEP, but the border, thanks in part to the bipartisan efforts of the Congress, has more manpower, technology, and infrastructure than ever before.  The numbers in terms of seizures that need to go up are going up and the numbers in terms of illegal immigration are going way down.  The communities that are along the border, San Diego, Nogales, El Paso and so forth, in terms of violent crime statistics, are among the safest in the United States and so what I was saying from which I’m quoted in part was to the cartels in Mexico: don’t bring your violence and what you’re doing in Juarez, etc over into the United States or you will be met with an overwhelming response.  It is true there are crimes on this side of the border, the murder of a rancher in Arizona is one example, but it is inaccurate to extrapolate from that to say the entire border is out of control.  With respect to that 44 percent number, I think it is important to recognize that operational control is a very narrow term of art in border patrol lingo.  Basically, it is restricted to where you have individual agents located.  It does not take into account infrastructure, it does not take into account technology which is a force multiplier as you know.  I think it would be inaccurate to take from that number or that phrase to say well that means the other percentage of the border, 56%, is out of control.  That would not be accurate.