Washington – A top U.S. military commander said Tuesday he believes there are al-Qaeda cells in the United States – or people working to create them – and the military needs to triple its response teams to counter a growing threat of attack.
Air Force Gen. Victor “Gene” Renuart, who heads U.S. Northern Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, said that as the terrorism threat within the nation’s boundaries has increased, officials have strengthened intelligence sharing, particularly in an effort to shore up security at ports.
“I believe there are cells in the United States, or at least people who aspire to create cells in the United States,” Renuart said in an interview with The Associated Press. “To assume that there are not those cells is naive and so we have to take that threat seriously.” As for attacks, he added: “Am I concerned that this will happen this summer? I have to be concerned that it could happen any day.”
Other U.S. officials said last week they did not know of al-Qaeda cells in the United States.
Renuart, who took over at U.S. Northern Command just four months ago, said the military has one brigade-size unit available to respond to nuclear, chemical and biological incidents at home. That number, he said, needs to grow to three. A brigade is about 3,500 troops.
Renuart’s comments came in the wake of a national intelligence report released last week, which concluded that al-Qaeda is using its growing strength in the Middle East to plot attacks on U.S. soil.
