During the Annual Threat Assessment of the Director of National Intelligence for the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill this week, newly appointed DNI John McConnell fielded several questions and prepared an opening statement laying the groundwork for the discussion. The Washington Post did a short write-up on the discussion and highlighted a few choice items if you’re interested in their summary of events.

But the hearing was just over three hours in length, making a short summary fitting on what one wants to include. The full briefing is available for viewing on C-SPAN’s site, but there’s something incredibly wrong with the site’s search feature so I cannot directly link the video. You can start HERE, and move on as the days advance.

Among the points made on Al Qaida by McConnell from his opening statement (PDF) are the following:

• Al-Qa’ida is the terrorist organization that poses the greatest threat to US interests, including to the Homeland. We have captured or killed numerous senior al-Qa’ida operatives, but we also have seen that al-Qa’ida’s core elements are resilient. They continue to plot attacks against our Homeland and other targets with the objective of inflicting mass casualties. And they continue to maintain active connections and relationships that radiate outward from their leaders’ hideout in Pakistan to affiliates throughout the Middle East, northern Africa, and Europe
• Many of our most important interests intersect in Pakistan, there the Taliban and al-Qa’ida maintain critical sanctuaries. As I noted earlier, Pakistan is our partner in the war on terror and has captured several al-Qa’ida leaders. However, it is also a major source of Islamic extremism
• Eliminating the safehaven that the Taliban and other extremists have found in Pakistan’s tribal areas is not sufficient to end the insurgency in Afghanistan but it is necessary. We recognize that aggressive military action, however, has been costly for Pakistani security forces and appreciate concerns over the potential for sparking tribal rebellion and a backlash by sympathetic Islamic political parties. There is widespread opposition among these parties to the US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. With elections expected later this year, the situation will become even more challenging—for President Musharraf and for the US.

• Al-Qa’ida remains determined to exploit turmoil in Somalia.
• Use of conventional explosives continues to be the most probable al-Qa’ida attack scenario. The thwarted UK aviation plot last summer and the other major threat reports that we have been tracking all involve conventional bombs. Nevertheless, we receive reports indicating that al-Qa’ida and other groups are attempting to acquire chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons or materials.

McConnell reiterated what was reported earlier this week, that is the U.S. intelligence belief both Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are in the North West Frontier region of Waziristan.

On Iran’s nuclear program, McConnell states “we assess that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons.” McConnell believes 2015 is the perceived timeframe of when Iran would be able to build a nuclear weapon, which is, again, a goal McConnell firmly believes Iran is heading towards. McConnell also states there is no doubt North Korea has helped Iran build and sold to Iran missiles.

On the issue of Iran’s involvement in Iraq, McConnell states rather defiantly this is a known quantity, that Iran is operating within Iraq on dual purposes; to kill Coalition soldiers and in an attempt to derail Democracy within the region. Iran’s regional goal includes increasing influence, and McConnell believes Tehran seeks to increase its influence through the sponsoring of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

We assess that Iran regards its ability to conduct terrorist operations abroad as a key element of its national security strategy: it considers this capability as helping to safeguard the regime by deterring US or Israeli attacks, distracting and weakening Israel, as enhancing Iran’s regional influence through intimidation, and as helping to drive the US from the region.

At the center of Iran’s terrorism strategy is Lebanese Hizballah, which relies on Tehran for a substantial portion of its annual budget, military equipment, and specialized training. Hizballah is focused on its agenda in Lebanon and supporting anti-Israeli Palestinian terrorists, but, as I indicated earlier, it has in the past made contingency plans to conduct attacks against US interests in the event it feels its survival—or that of Iran—is threatened.

McConnell lists Hezbollah as the number two non-state actor that represents a threat to the United States, the first being Al Qaida.

During the Q&A following the opening statements made by the three panelists, of which is an excerpted 10-minute video below, there are a few things that are quite clear.

1. It is the belief of U.S. intelligence Iran’s threat to the United States has grown over the past few years as the nation has grown more hard-lined and has increased its support of terrorist networks.
2. Recent reports indicating Al Qaida has once again found safe reguge in the Waziristan region of Pakistan are true, however McConnell is quick to state these camps are far less capable than previous years. McConnell also states a ‘if not Pakistan, then ____’ statement with regard to the camps.
3. Politicians on both sides of the aisle love to listen to their own voice, even when their voices are monotonous like Joe Lieberman’s. Lieberman, for one, rambles away explaining things to the panel, items in which the panel would likely know more about.
4. The ‘threat’ of Hugo Chavez is a temporary one, because Chavez has used his nation’s oil supply as a bargaining tool and at the rate he is giving away this resource he won’t have many years left to gain influence. Chavez seeks to become the next Fidel Castro, that is build a coalition of nations opposed to the United States in South America.
5. Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations are aware of unsecure borders within the United States, but the panelists state they are not aware of any plans to use the borders as crossing points. Added though is that it is known terrorists will use whatever means they can to get into the U.S.

My apologies in advance for the sound not being fully synched with the video. It was first converted from Real Media to AVI, edited for excerpts, saved as a movie file and finally converted to Flash format. What you see is what you get, but there are very interesting excerpts within the clip that are worthy of highlighting.