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"They're not feeling the same kind of heat -- not yet, anyway -- as their friends in the tribal areas" of Pakistan, he said.
"And everyone involved on our side understands that has to change."
The official did not specify how the United States would counter militants in Yemen but in Pakistan, the Central Intelligence Agency has targeted Al-Qaeda and Taliban figures with a major bombing campaign using unmanned aircraft.
The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported Wednesday that the new assessment of the threat raised the prospect of expanded US operations in Yemen, including CIA drone strikes.
Asked about the revised assessment of the threat in Yemen and possible stepped up US operations, CIA spokesman George Little said: "This agency and our government as a whole work against Al-Qaeda and its violent allies, wherever they appear."
A US effort to counter militants in Yemen has been led mostly by the US military, but some inside the administration have proposed a larger role for the CIA, similar to the drone strikes in Pakistan, the Journal wrote, citing unnamed officials.
The US counter-terrorism official said the administration would take a "tailored approach" to Yemen and that it was not a case of choosing intelligence agencies over the military.
"When it comes to who carries out that policy, it's not a zero-sum game or a question of this organization or that. You have to combine and apply the tools and tactics that make the most sense, given the specific situation," the official said.
The Washington Post reported that US officials now saw the threat out of Yemen as more serious than that posed by Al-Qaeda's headquarters in Pakistan, but the US official said both areas were considered equally dangerous.
"There aren’t academic debates over which group might be slightly more lethal than the other. That’s ridiculous," he said.
The official also said that the United States had scored successes in Pakistan but would continue to squeeze Al-Qaeda, blamed for the attacks against New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
"We’ve had almost a decade to build our knowledge of Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas, we have allies who are on the ground and who let us operate there, and -- as a result of all those things -- we’ve been pounding the terrorists for years," he said.
But the network remains "extremely dangerous and they are still the hub to all the spokes, the heart of Al-Qaeda."
The CIA and the US military's special operations forces have deployed surveillance equipment, robotic aircraft and personnel in Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia to target Al-Qaeda's network in Yemen as well as Islamist militants in Somalia's Shebab movement, the Journal reported.
US officials believe Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Shebab in Somalia are forging stronger links, the paper said.
Yemeni security forces meanwhile have been battling suspected Al-Qaeda militants for control of the southern town of Loder in recent days.
Yemeni authorities said late Tuesday they had gained back control of the town in fighting which started Friday.
US intelligence agencies had raised alarms about Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen even before the failed attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day last year, a plot blamed on the group.
The administration has also confirmed it is actively hunting down Anwar Al-Awlaqi, a US-born cleric in Yemen who has defended the suspect in the Christmas Day plot, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, and blessed a shooting rampage last year at Fort Hood in Texas by a Muslim US Army officer.
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"And everyone involved on our side understands that has to change."
The official did not specify how the United States would counter militants in Yemen but in Pakistan, the Central Intelligence Agency has targeted Al-Qaeda and Taliban figures with a major bombing campaign using unmanned aircraft.
The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported Wednesday that the new assessment of the threat raised the prospect of expanded US operations in Yemen, including CIA drone strikes.
Asked about the revised assessment of the threat in Yemen and possible stepped up US operations, CIA spokesman George Little said: "This agency and our government as a whole work against Al-Qaeda and its violent allies, wherever they appear."
A US effort to counter militants in Yemen has been led mostly by the US military, but some inside the administration have proposed a larger role for the CIA, similar to the drone strikes in Pakistan, the Journal wrote, citing unnamed officials.
The US counter-terrorism official said the administration would take a "tailored approach" to Yemen and that it was not a case of choosing intelligence agencies over the military.
"When it comes to who carries out that policy, it's not a zero-sum game or a question of this organization or that. You have to combine and apply the tools and tactics that make the most sense, given the specific situation," the official said.
The Washington Post reported that US officials now saw the threat out of Yemen as more serious than that posed by Al-Qaeda's headquarters in Pakistan, but the US official said both areas were considered equally dangerous.
"There aren’t academic debates over which group might be slightly more lethal than the other. That’s ridiculous," he said.
The official also said that the United States had scored successes in Pakistan but would continue to squeeze Al-Qaeda, blamed for the attacks against New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
"We’ve had almost a decade to build our knowledge of Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas, we have allies who are on the ground and who let us operate there, and -- as a result of all those things -- we’ve been pounding the terrorists for years," he said.
But the network remains "extremely dangerous and they are still the hub to all the spokes, the heart of Al-Qaeda."
The CIA and the US military's special operations forces have deployed surveillance equipment, robotic aircraft and personnel in Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia to target Al-Qaeda's network in Yemen as well as Islamist militants in Somalia's Shebab movement, the Journal reported.
US officials believe Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Shebab in Somalia are forging stronger links, the paper said.
Yemeni security forces meanwhile have been battling suspected Al-Qaeda militants for control of the southern town of Loder in recent days.
Yemeni authorities said late Tuesday they had gained back control of the town in fighting which started Friday.
US intelligence agencies had raised alarms about Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen even before the failed attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day last year, a plot blamed on the group.
The administration has also confirmed it is actively hunting down Anwar Al-Awlaqi, a US-born cleric in Yemen who has defended the suspect in the Christmas Day plot, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, and blessed a shooting rampage last year at Fort Hood in Texas by a Muslim US Army officer.
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