Osama bin Laden鈥檚 death has dealt a serious blow to the world鈥檚 most recognized terrorist group.
What works in America鈥檚 favor is that most Al Qaeda members find Al Qaeda鈥檚 new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri鈥檚 leadership style "less compelling than bin Laden鈥檚 image as a holy man and warrior and will not offer him the deference they gave bin Laden.鈥�
As a result, Clapper predicted that the core Al Qaeda organization will be 鈥渄iminishing in operational importance鈥� in the next two to three years. With continued counterterrorism operations, Clapper said that 鈥渢here is a better-than-even chance that decentralization will lead to fragmentation of the movement within a few years.鈥�
