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Morphed into something that became a much more frequently used weapon for just all the bad guys in the region? >> i think that's a fair way to characterize the evolution over time. it's very easy when you get out on that slippery slope to say, look, here, we shouldn't just be focusing only on the international terrorists, what about the people supporting them? when we take the next step and start attacking them as an affiliated group, as if they were international terrorists themselves, we're inviting a lot of trouble. >> and it's trouble that peter berger of the new american foundation and cn...

>> the best onset of that question is what osama bin laden's own assessment of what it was. before he died, he wrote a letter basically outlining how much the drones had impacted his group. he was very aware that the al qaeda brand was in deep trouble. he was advising other groups not to adopt the al qaeda brand because it would be bad for fund-raising and attract a lot of negative attention. that's osama bin laden's assessment and i think that's a pretty accurate one. >> former secretary of defense leon panetta oversaw the campaigns against al qaeda in pakistan's tribal areas known as the fat...

There is a new threat. one person or a small group, self radicalized and determined to kill. in other words, boston. the cia and fbi are, of course, working hard to stop the next would be bombers, but what exactly are they looking for? how do you track a shadow? someone harboring extremist tendencies quietly. someone who might turn violent but isn't yet? the former director of the cia, general michael hayden says the united states is continually calibrating the balance between freedom and security. >> i put my arm up and said this is what we are doing for you now in terms of security, the inte...

Al qaeda. today three of them are dead and one is in deep hiding. not to mention a number of other members of what we were often called the top 20 leadership. many of them have been, have been hit, as well. >> former cia analyst cindy who spent a career tracking terror said despite the virtual decapitation of al qaeda's leadership, don't count the group out. >> i get a little nervous when people say it's over, we don't have to worry about that any more because al qaeda always has several tracks going at the same time. my experience was whenever you declare them dead, they prove you wrong. so, ...

Profile about that specific individual. >> law enforcement would need to do the almost impossible, sort out who are the radical muslims, not prone to violence and those who could turn in to terrorists. robert grenier is a former senior counterterrorism chief. >> it is a very difficult thing to detect when an individual, sm small group of people are self radicalizing. from going from views that you and i may consider radical or realistic to then make the decision that i'm going to engage -- i'm going to act on this and i'm going to act violently on this. that is a discreet step a subtle thing a...