Al-Qaeda grooming militants who 'look western': CIA chief

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — CIA director Michael Hayden warned Sunday that Al-Qaeda was training operatives who "look western" and could enter the United States undetected to conduct terrorist attacks.

General Hayden also said the terror network, which over the past 18 months has established a "safe haven" in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghanistan border, has shed its operational reliance on mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"They are bringing operatives into that region for training -- operatives that, a phrase I would use, wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles (airport near Washington DC) with you," Hayden told NBC television.

The new recruits "look western" and "would be able to come into this country ... without...