Washington - President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser said on Sunday that authorities “have to presume” there might be more potential mail bombs like the ones pulled from planes in England and the United Arab Emirates.
The foiled plot “certainly bears the hallmark” of al-Qaeda's Yemen branch, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the terrorist group is “still at war with us and we are very much at war with them,” deputy national security adviser John Brennan said.
“We're trying to get a better handle on what else may be out there,” he told NBC's “Meet the Press” as he made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows representing the Obama administration in the wake of the latest terrorist scare. “We're trying to understand better what we may be facing.”
Brennan noted that because of the continuing threat, the world's largest package delivery companies - FedEx and UPS - have suspended air freight from Yemen. Police in Yemen have arrested a young woman on suspicion of mailing the bombs, which were powerful enough to down airplanes.
While he said “we feel good” about the steps taken since the thwarted plot, “I think we have to presume there might be” additional bombs.
“They are a dangerous group. They are a determined group. They are still at war with us and we are very much at war with them. They are going to try to identify vulnerabilities in the system,” he said.
He told CNN's “State of the Union” that “it would be very imprudent ... to presume that there are no others (packages) out there.”
Speaking about the Yemen branch, he said the US “will destroy that organisation as we are going to destroy the rest of al-Qaeda.”
Brennan said authorities were trying to determine whether the planes were the intended targets. The packages with the explosives were addressed to Chicago-area synagogues.- AP