that some of their trade craft, some of their ability to carry out terrorist attacks was learned from aqim. we continue to encourage the nigerian government to engage communities vulnerable to extremist violence and those problems are considerable. >> and the department is going to work through to other relevant agencies and international partners to identify ways that we can erode the capacity of boca horan to carry out the u.n. compound that was bombed and also to prevent attacks against our friends and their interest in nigeria as well. >> well, if i could interject, the observations that he made to me, as long as you have the importation of religious leaders with the students, according to him he had been in this particular madrosa which was across the street from where he was educated, a very, very different curriculum. if you indoctrine nate and raise young kids with that type of ideology, as long as these schools, some 600 of these schools continues to do that, in pakistan, and now that they are doing it in nigeria and have been doing it for quite a while, you've got to expect probl

it appears clear that their ability to carry out terrorist attacks were learned from aqim. we continue to encourage the nigerian government at the very highest levels to also offer actively engaged communities vulnerable to violence by addressing the underlying political and socio-economic problems in the north. the department is going to work through, together with other relevant agencies and the government of nigeria and international partners, to identify ways where we can erode their capacity to carry out attacks against the u.s. and other international targets such as the u.n. compound that was bombed and to prevent attacks against our friends and their interests in nigeria as well. >> if i could interject in terms of putting an end to that, the observations he made to me, the muslim governor, that as long as you have the importation of religious leaders, according to him, he said the young men were wearing osama bin laden t- shirts. if you indoctrinate a generation of young kids with that type of ideology, the same issue we are talking about with pakistan -- as long a

we believe aqim and the islamic magreb has probably added some recruits to its ranks, though exception is probably al qaeda core in the federally administered tribal areas. that group is in particularly difficult circumstances, as i think is well known to this subcommittee. but i, you know, i believe that our work in strategic counterterrorism and particularly encountering violent extremism is essential as ever, essentially because many of the peaks of this movement have been cut off and don't threaten us in the way they did before. there remains a large number of people out there who are committed to violence against the united states, its values and its friends and that's why i believe we need to do what we can to cut off the flow of recruits to these organizations. >> one of the areas where counterterrorism has been pretty effective is with the philippines. do you see a continued joint special operations task force philippines? do you see that continuing as it has? sir, i think that's a question best for the department of defense but i would certainly agree with you that both on the

you have al shabab in the horn of africa and the aqap in yemen and aqim in northern africa. they really disbursed. their capability in terms of major attacks is diminished as the president said recently, but they're really using a strategy of death by 1,000 cuts. that's their philosophy, and we'll see if it works. >> so would you say we are any safer than -- now than when osama bin laden was alive? i mean, you look at al shbab, they're certainly very dangerous and certainly al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> well, i think the major attacks, like we saw in 9/11, are something that is really beyond the capability of some of these groups. unless something happens in the mere term. it's these little tiny attacks like we saw in uganda and that we have seen threatened in kenya, that we've seen even in nigeria with an affiliate of al qaeda, so these are the types of things we are concerned about, and also the lone wolf type of thing that is energized through ideology over the internet. this is something i think law enforcement in the united states is more concerned about and we

seems there's some other tradecraft, some of their ability for terrorist attacks was learned from aqimwe continue to encourage the nigerian government that the phrase highest levels to also effectively engage communities, volvo to extremist violence by addressing the underlying political and socioeconomic problems in the north, and those problems are considerable. the department is going to work through, together with other relevant agencies, and the government of nigeria and international partners to deal ways we can't even capacity of boko haram to carry out terrorist attacks against the us, against us international targets as the u.n. compound that was bombed. and also to prevent attacks against our friends and their interest in niger as well. >> well, if i could interject here in terms of putting an end to that, the observations he made to me, muslim governor of this northern state may to me, is that as long as you will have the importation of religious leaders, with the students, according to him, he'd been in this particular madrassa which was across the street where he was educa

in north and west africa, another a little bit affiliate, -- another al qaeda affiliate, aqim, continues efforts to destabilize friends and engage in the kidnapping o -- destabilize governments and engage in the kidnapping for ransom activities. and a group that aligns itself with al qaeda's violent agenda is increasingly looking to attack western interests in nigeria, in addition to the nigerian government targets. more broadly, al qaeda's killing of innocents, mostly men, wom -- mostly muslim men, women, and children has tarnished its image around world -- >> are you willing to speak out against -- what about the hundreds of innocent people we are killing with drones in pakistan and yemen and somalia? i speak out on behalf of those innocent victims. they deserve an apology from you, mr. brennan. >> ma'am -- >> how many are you willing to sacrifice? why are you lying to the american people -- >> thank you, ma'am, for expressing your views. there will be time for questions and answers after the presentation. >> in pakistan, who was killed because we wanted to document the drone strikes.