Al-Qaeda still poses threat to US interests - Chertoff

WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Wednesday warned that the latest arrest in Europe of individuals linked to terrorism organizations proved that Al-Qaeda network remained active and continue to plan further attacks against the US and its allies overseas.
"Arrests in Denmark and Germany indicate that al-Qaeda continues to carry out acts of war against the West, they continue to seek fellow travelers and allies and adherents in the West who can be used to carry out attacks, whether they be in Western Europe or here in the homeland", Chertoff told the House Committee of Homeland Security during a hearing, six years after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.
His remarks come at a time the Danish and German authorities said that they have arrested 11 people in the last 36 hours including eight people in Denmark who it claimed had links to al-Qaeda and three others in Germany claimed to have plans to attack an international Airport and a US military base in Frankfurt.
Chertoff admitted that six years after the September attacks, the US interests are still at risk despite the aggressive wars that US has launched to quell terrorist in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"American interests overseas remain very much at risk. So it is a sobering reminder of the fact that six years after 9/11 the intent of al-Qaeda and its allies to wage war on the West remains very much unabated", he added.
Drawing a more optimistic picture, Chertoff said despite al-Qaedas operations, the U.S is "safer now than it was prior to 9/11" but he warned that "the job of keeping the U.S safe is not done, and it may not be done within our lifetimes because there is no such thing as perfect security".
"We cannot afford to relax or relent. The enemy will continue to adapt. It will continue to retool itself, so we have to continue to adapt, to use our technology to our advantage" he said.
Chertoff called for broader intelligence cooperation between the US and its allies as the best tool to reduce the risk of future terrorist attacks.
"We can reduce risk by dealing with the threat itself and capturing and killing al Qaeda leadership, by sharing intelligence in this country and with our allies overseas, and by disrupting plots at home and abroad, and by decreasing vulnerabilities through sensibly building barriers and strengthening the measures we have in place to protect our infrastructure", he added. (end) amz.tg KUNA 052353 Sep 07NNNN