DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: MOSLEM JIHAD IS GOING TO BE WITH US FOR YEARS TO COME

World faces generation of possibly unstoppable terrorism

Intelligence agency ASIO expects global terrorism to remain a destabilising force for the next generation, and warns authorities may not be able to prevent further mass casualty attacks.

The agency's grim assessment came in a rare public speech by its boss Paul O'Sullivan, who said there was no room for complacency in Australia's region while terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top remained at large.

"On current indications, terrorism around the globe is likely to be a destabilising force for the next generation," ASIO's director-general told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Sydney.

"It is dynamic, difficult to predict and there is no guarantee we will be successful in preventing further mass casualty attacks or stopping its growth."

He described al Qaeda's jihad against the US and its allies as an "act of ideological over-reach" which recognised no national boundaries, and said the terrorist organisation broadly represented a "renunciation of the international system, root and branch".

"This extremist network culture developed, and still has, strategic and operational reach into our own region," Mr O'Sullivan warned.

"We've seen Jemaah Islamiah – a terrorist group which had links to al Qaeda – carry out terrorist attacks against Western interests – including Australian interests – in Indonesia.

"Successful counter-terrorism efforts by Indonesian authorities have eroded JI's capabilities, but Noordin Mohammad Top remains at large, and there is no room for complacency.

"What makes al Qaeda such a dangerous creature is its ability to marry ideological intensity with organisational resilience and adaptability."

Despite successful disruption activities, al Qaeda appeared to be rebuilding from bases in the tribal regions bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, and networks in the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe.

"However ill-founded and over-wrought its world view, it is a learning and a teaching organisation, pushing the horizon for violent extremism," he said.

Mr O'Sullivan dismissed any suggestion that the September 11 attacks of 2001 were a one-off event, citing last year's disrupted plot to use liquid explosives to destroy US-bound aircraft out of London's Heathrow airport.

Al Qaeda's "ideological vehemence" defied the culture of caution created during the Cold War by the US and the Soviet Union's mutual possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"As the list of terrorist attacks around the globe since 1990s demonstrate, no country can insulate itself," he said.

"Trans-national Islamic terrorists don't require weapons of mass destruction to challenge the authority and legitimacy of states, exploit their weak spots or quietly rebuild capability under the radar, so to speak."

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