including robert litt, general counsel for the office of the director of national intelligence, and matthew olsene director of the national counterterrorism center. this is two hours and 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning. i'm will trainer, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to georgetown university law center. today marks the second discussion of the law school's three-part series on the past, present and future of surveillance and foreign intelligence gathering in the united states. >> we're being monitored. [laughter] >> in october we convened former members and key staffers from the church committee hearings and looked at the origins of the foreign intelligence surveil answer act -- surveillance act. of today we're going to be focused on current intelligence-gathering practices. we'll be considering bills currently before congress that would reform the foreign intelligence surveillance court and alterations to the foreign intelligence surveillance act as well as cases currently working their way through the court. our purpose in convening the program today is to move the c

matthew olsen is director of the national counterterrorism center.told a senate hearing that the militants are exploiting "increasingly permissive security environments in iraq," and he warned other al qaeda affiliates are spreading. >> the threat level, as we look at the threat, is more disbursed geographically. the threat is... has moved out from the afghanistan-pakistan border region to broad swaths of areas that are largely ungoverned across north africa and the middle east. so, in some ways, it has... it has become more significant from a geographic perspective and more complicated from an intelligence perspective. >> woodruff: still, olsen said the threat of another 9/11-style attack on the u.s. is lower than it was in 2001. the nominee to chair the federal reserve is defending the central bank's stimulus efforts. janet yellen faced her senate confirmation hearing today. she said the economy still needs help, and she gave no indication of when the fed might curtail its stimulus program. there'll be more on the yellen hearing later in the progra