MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) could succeed in bringing down passenger flights in the US skies, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell writes in his new book, which goes on sale Tuesday.
"To put it bluntly, I would not be surprised if al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) tomorrow brought down a US airliner travelling from London to New York or from New York to Los Angeles or anywhere else in the United States," Morell writes.
Morell's new book, titled "The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism From Al Qaeda to ISIS," recounts the US biggest counterterrorism events, including the response to 9/11 terror attack and the meetings at the White House on killing al-Qaeda's former leader Osama bin Laden.
Morell names AQAP's chief bomb maker Ibrahim Asiri "the most dangerous terrorist alive." Asiri was reported to be responsible for making "underpants bomb" used by his brother Abdullah Asiri who failed to bring down a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.
Morell retired from his post at the CIA on August 9, 2013. In 2014, he was CBS News' senior security correspondent.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was formed in 2009 when the extremist group's branches in Yemen and Saudi Arabia merged into one. AQAP seeks to topple Saudi authorities and the Yemeni government, with the group's main targets being oil facilities, foreign nationals and security forces.
