The Hill News

Slashing the budget of intelligence programs by 10 percent or more could give al-Qaeda the upper hand, former director of the CIA Gen. Michael Hayden told Candy Crowley on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday.

“Cuts of that dimension would certainly harm security,” said Hayden. “We have an agile learning enemy in al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda changes. Al-Qaeda adapts. We have to adapt as well.

"We rely on resources to do that. Reducing resources beyond a certain point will make us less able to adapt as our enemy adapts. So I would be cautious about that.”

The $75 billion intelligence budget is more than twice as large as it was before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.