Chertoff: Hezbollah Makes Al Qaeda Look Minor League – Greatest Risk To National Security
May 30, 2008 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff warned Thursday that the radical Islamic group Hezbollah “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team,” and poses the greatest threat to national security.
“Someone described Hezbollah like the A-team of terrorists in terms of capabilities, in terms of range of weapons they have, in terms of internal discipline,” Chertoff told FOX News. “To be honest, they make Al Qaeda look like a minor league team.
“They have been more disciplined, and they’ve been in some senses more restrained in the kinds of attacks they carry out … in recent years, but that’s not something we can take for granted,” he warned.
Chertoff, speaking before the opening of a two-day terrorism forum in Jerusalem, also warned of the threat of a terrorist smuggling a bomb aboard a passenger airplane.
“I don’t think we’re really worried about hijacking because we’ve put a lot of measures in place like a locked cockpit door, flight deck officers who have weapons and the air marshals,” Chertoff told FOX News. “So the next threat becomes the bomb. Something that either a person takes on board themselves or smuggles into the cargo.”
“One way we’ve addressed smuggling a bomb is by reducing the size of liquids you can bring on board,” Chertoff said. “That was a direct result of learning terrorists had developed a way to disguise liquid explosives.
“The second thing we’re in the process of doing is intensifying the degree of screening we use for baggage that goes into the cargo. Whether it comes from the passenger or is shipped from company. All of this is raising the level of defense,” he said.
