Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said the agency has taken it as “a matter of faith” that if al-Qaida obtained a nuclear weapon, they wouldn’t hesitate to use it against the United States.
“If they had the ability, they would do it,” he told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Editor's Note: See the Newsmax.TV interview with Gen. Michael Hayden below
“Now as a practical matter, if you’re asking me in my professional persona, it’s weapons of mass destruction they’re after. It’s probably easier for them to work with chemical or biological weapons than with a nuclear device.
“And if they work with a nuclear device, our judgment was that it would more likely be a dispersal device, where you’re just throwing radiation into the atmosphere, rather than the actual nuclear detonation. But we took it as an article of faith that if they could they would, and they wouldn’t hesitate.”
Hayden echoed the concerns of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, who told Newsmax’s Ronald Kessler in May 2007 that al-Qaida’s paramount goal is to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Muller said New York City and Washington, D.C. were prime targets for a terrorist detonation. The FBI director said that the nuclear threat is so real, he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about that possibility.
Editor’s Note — Read more on Gen. Michael Hayden's interview:
- Ex-CIA Director Hayden Praises Obama for ‘Continuity’ in War on Terror – Click Here
- Iran ‘Hell-bent’ on Getting Nuclear Weapon, Ex-CIA Director Hayden Says – Click Here
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