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U.S. Intel Warns al-Qaida Has Rebuilt
The agreement allows Taliban and al-Qaida operatives to move across the border with impunity and establish and run training centers, the report says, according to the official.
It also says that al-Qaida is particularly interested in building up the numbers in its middle ranks, or operational positions, so there is not as great a lag in attacks when such people are killed.
  This is an image from video made available by IntelCenter, on Wednesday July 11, 2007, showing Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy. Hours after commandos cleared the warren-like Red Mosque complex of rebel fighters, ending a fierce eight-day siege and street battles that left more than 100 dead, deputy al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri called for Pakistani Muslims to wage holy war against the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in retaliation for the assault on the mosque. IntelCenter is a private contractor working for intelligence agencies. (AP Photo/via IntelCenter) (AP) 
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"Being No. 3 in al-Qaida is a bad job. We regularly get to the No. 3 person," Tom Fingar, the top U.S. intelligence analyst, told the House panel.
The counterterror official said the report does not focus on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, his whereabouts or his role in the terrorist network. Officials say al-Qaida has become more like a "family-oriented" mob organization with leadership roles in cells and other groups being handed from father to son, or cousin to uncle.
Yet bin Laden's whereabouts are still of great interest to intelligence agencies. Although he has not been heard from for some time, Kringen said officials believe he is still alive and living under the protection of tribal leaders in the border area.
Armed Services Committee members expressed frustration that more was not being done to get bin Laden and tamp down activity in the tribal areas. The senior intelligence analysts tried to portray the difficulty of operating in the area despite a $25 million bounty on the head of bin Laden and his top deputy.
"They are in an environment that is more hostile to us than it is to al-Qaida," Fingar said.
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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
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