WASHINGTON - Al-Qaeda has regrouped in its Pakistani "safe haven" and is determined to inflict mass casualties through new attacks on the United States, a US intelligence report warned on Tuesday.
Osama bin Laden`s extremist group remains bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and biological arms, "and would not hesitate to use them" if it develops the capability, the report said.
The "key judgements" on the terrorist threat to the United States, contained in a new National Intelligence Estimate, concluded that Al-Qaeda was gaining strength in a lawless zone of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan.
"As a result, we judge the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment," said the report, which comes nearly six years after the September 11, 2001 attacks in which some 3,000 people were killed.
The report`s findings, which were leaked to the US press last week, have already prompted angry reactions from Democrats who accuse President George W. Bush of making the United States more vulnerable by invading Iraq.
But on Tuesday Bush`s top counter-terrorism aide hit back saying Washington rarely gets all of the help it wants from allies like Pakistan in its efforts to hunt down violent extremists.
"When people ask me about our counterterrorism cooperation, our allies around the world, the suggestion is: `Do they give you everything you want?` That is almost never the case," said Frances Townsend.
The report maintained that "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" has become "the most visible and capable affiliate" of bin Laden`s network with an intent to attack the United States.
"We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland (US) attack capability, including: a safe haven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas, operational lieutenants, and its top leadership," the report said.
Global anti-terrorism efforts since the 2001 attacks have helped to disrupt "known plots" by Al-Qaeda to strike the US again, the intelligence analysts said.
"We are concerned, however, that this level of international cooperation may wane as 9/11 becomes a more distant memory and perceptions of the threat diverge," they wrote.
Senior US intelligence who briefed reporters on the findings said no Al-Qaeda cells had been identified in the United States.
But US intelligence sees a "disturbing trend" in Al-Qaeda`s ability to recruit, train and deploy operatives in the United States, said Ted Gistaro, an NDI official who authored the study.
Among the concerns is that Al-Qaeda leadership`s in Pakistan "will seek to leverage Al-Qaeda in Iraq`s capabilities, (and) networks to try and enhance its own capability to attack here at home," Gistaro said.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq was the most capable and most destructive Al-Qaeda affiliate, and one whose leader threatened in September to launch attacks inside the United States, he added.
But the most important change since the last such intelligence assessment more than two years ago was Al-Qaeda`s success in re-establishing a secure place to train and plot in Pakistani tribal areas thanks in part to a September peace accord between the Pakistani government and tribals leaders.
Al-Qaeda leaders "exploit that safe haven to pull together operational leaders, and second tier leadership that is instrumental in formulating and executing attacks worldwide, including the United States," Gistaro said.
As a result, Al-Qaeda leaders Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are able to exercise "some level of control and influence of the organization," he said.
Thomas Fingar, deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, said the consensus in the US intelligence community was that Bin Laden and Zawahiri were in the Pakistani tribal areas.
"One of the great unknowns is how often they move from place to place, how often if ever do they move across the border," he said. "That they are in that portion of the globe we are quite confident that that`s where they are."
On other threats, the report said the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah could be more likely to wage attacks on US soil "if it perceives the United States as posing a direct threat to the group or Iran."

07/17/2007 17:30 GMT