these groups include affiliates like ansar al sharia in libya. additionally cbs' laura logan noted earlier this week following a report on benghazi, that, quote, it became evident to us in the course of our re search that very little is known publicly about the true nature of al qaeda's network in libya and that has consequences beyond benghazi and beyond libya. it has consequences that speak to the national security interests of the united states of america, end of quote. most of these affiliate terrorist groups have sworn an allegiance to al qaeda and appear to closely coordinate their activities and plots with a core al qaeda leadership, including iman al-zawahiri, lane's successor. to misdis or -- dismiss or minimize the relationship with al qaeda's senior leadership ises me guided and i believe dangerous as we've seen over the last several years. i fear this administration's insistence on treating core al qaeda different they than groups like ansar al sharia has led to agesa dangerous mischaracterization of a threat and resulted in a failure