Mike Levin: “Earlier today we had a hearing in the Armed Services Committee where we received testimony from the intelligence…”

“Earlier today we had a hearing in the Armed Services Committee where we received testimony from the intelligence community on worldwide threats to our national security. We have threats of all kinds, threats which are more immediate, more personal, more imminent, than Iraq, particularly the al-Qaida terrorist network, even though that network has been weakened, it has been deprived of its safe haven in Afghanistan. It has, just over the last few months, attacked innocent civilians in Bali and Tunisia and has attacked United States service members and civilians in Kuwait and Jordan. Last month, the United States and coalition forces fought the biggest battle in Afghanistan since Operation Anaconda last spring. Even though our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies are working with allied countries to thwart further attacks in the United States and abroad, the fact is we remain highly vulnerable to al-Qaida, to other terrorist groups. As a matter of fact, the United States is at alert orange now--that is the second highest level of alert in our military forces--and also at heightened force protection levels worldwide.”