US more vulnerable to terrorist attacks amid govt shutdown, intelligence officials warn

Thousands of spy agencies' employees will be sent back home

The US government shutdown is making the nation more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, intelligence officials have warned.

The warning comes as thousands of US spy agencies' employees will be sent back home.

According to the Washington Post, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. testified that unemployment could have an insidious effect.

The special visa programme is one of the few issues lawmakers on both sides seem willing to resolve expeditiously.

Clapper told the Senate Judiciary Committee, testifying alongside Gen. Keith B. Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, as day passes, the impact and the jeopardy to the safety and security of this country will increase.

Figures released this week by Clapper's office indicate that 72 percent of the intelligence community's civilian workforce has been temporarily sent home.

The CIA and other agencies declined to provide details on the furloughs, saying that the information is classified and could identify vulnerabilities that adversaries might seek to exploit, the report added.