CIA Director Porter Goss' warning that al Qaeda might try to use "chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons" in his Feb. 17 testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee overshadowed a more urgent intelligence warning. At the same hearing, Vice Admiral James Loy, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, testified that al Qaeda has changed tactics for inserting terrorist teams into the United States.
According to Adm. Loy, al Qaeda plans to use Mexico's professional people smugglers — known as coyotes — to infiltrate terrorists across our southern border. Adm. Loy's information is based on recent interrogations and has been confirmed by ongoing counterterrorist operations.
This story ought to have led the news on every network. But Adm. Loy's Mexican bombshell didn't generate widespread media coverage because it was buried in written testimony instead of being delivered in telegenic soundbites. Al Qaeda's departure from its previous modus operandi of using terrorists with valid documents (the majority of September 11 hijackers fit into this category) means the organization intends to attack us using new methods for which we are unprepared. |