The death of Osama Bin Laden has dealt a serious blow to Al Qaeda recruitment and has diminished the organization’s capability, Asa Hutchinson, former Under Secretary of Homeland Security told CNBC on Wednesday.
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Hutchinson said with the operation, carried out by US forces, the US has proven it can and will fight the war on terrorism.
“You think about this being the command center,” Hutchinson said. “Their capability has been diminished …the benefits from this will come over the next year.”
It would also help to limit recruitment for the terrorist organization, he said, as potential fighters might wonder whether they were “going to wind up having breakfast with a navy seal”.
Hutchinson warned however that in the short term, Bin Laden’s death was a cause for concern as well.
“We have to have a heightened state of alert. I’m very concerned about our presence overseas,” he said.
“They’ve been dealt a serious blow. They want to show they’re still strong ; the next 30 days we need to be on a heightened alert,” Hutchinson said.
Turning to the release of a photo of Bin Laden’s body, Hutchinson said the US might need to release the images to silence skeptics.
"Probably we’ll have to release it but that’s a decision the administration will have to make in the affirmative. The motivation is for world consumption and the necessity of it because it was such an important event,” he said.
