[pdf], New America Foundation via the Human Security Gateway, February 2010

EXCERPT: "A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in July 2007 assessed that al-Qaeda had 'protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability, including: a safehaven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), operational lieutenants, and its top leadership.' It was not as comfortable for the group as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan had been before the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the group had lost many key personnel over the years, but the Pakistan safe haven allowed al-Qaeda to act with virtual impunity to plan, train for, and mount attacks. In 2009, however, U.S. officials frequently touted al-Qaeda's unprecedented losses of midlevel to senior commanders since the NIE?at mid-year, for example, as many as '11 out of 20 of the Pentagon's most wanted-list' - to concerted strikes by U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the FATA... The top leadership - bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri -is still functioning, even though little is publicly known about them beyond their media presence. Although the capability of the group's operational lieutenants is unclear, al-Qaeda continues to coordinate operations with allies such as the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, and it retains contacts in other countries who may be able to act in its name. The group certainly still benefits from the same safe haven in the FATA and seems firmly entrenched there. Arrests this year of suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Western countries, including the United States, speak not only to the group's weaknesses, since its attacks were thwarted, but also to its persistence in its mission despite setbacks."

Read the full [pdf].

Related articles:
Global economic crisis compounds al-Qaeda's financial troubles, Deutsche-Welle, 26 February 2010
[blog], The Brookings Institution, 26 February 2010
FATF blacklists Pakistan for money laundering, GEO TV, 20 February 2010

Related media and reports:
Al-Qaeda central: Capabilities, allies, and messages, New America, 25 February 2010. Documents and media related to a discussion held on 25 February 2010.

Related posts:
Al-Qaeda and affiliates, 18 February 2010
Analysis of al-Qaeda's current strength and leadership, 11 February 2010
Testimony of Steve Coll before the the House Armed Services Committee: The paradoxes of Al-Qaeda, 28 January 2010
Al-Qaeda seeks to trigger India-Pakistan war: Gates, 20 January 2010
Al-Qaeda's sights on Pakistan, and beyond, 23 December 2009
Report: Islamic terror rising as al-Qaeda fades, 15 December 2009