Panel sees hinher threat Mrom terrorism today

Federal omcials ojer more upbeat Assessment

WASHINGTON — Extremism poses a greater global threat today than it did 17 years ago, according to members of the U.S. government commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks.

Deaths from terrorist attacks each year have increased substantially since 2001, and violent extremism has spread, according to the report released Tuesday from the task force on extremism in fragile states led by former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-ind.

Kean and Hamilton also led the 9/11 Commission that was created in 2002 to make an official report of events leading up to the Sept.

11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by al-qaida, as well as to make policy recommendations.

Members of the more recently constituted task force include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and former U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

Their assessment, released on the attacks’ anniversary, comes as the war in Afghanistan, which was initiated to defeat al-qaida and their Taliban hosts, shows no sign of ending.

U.S. officials offered a more upbeat assessment of American counterterrorism efforts on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that, while efforts to eradicate terrorism continue, the U.S. has made “great strides” in that fight. He noted the “central role” that diplomacy has played in combating extremism and promoting global stability and freedom.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the U.S. is “dramatically better positioned” against another possible 9/11-style attack.

While major terrorist organizations continue to pose a threat to the U.S., Wray said the FBI is also “very focused now on homegrown violent extremists,” who have been largely radicalized online.