Director John Brennan of the United States Central Intelligence Agency said, Wednesday, that Saudi Arabia has "all the trappings of modernization, but yet the environment, the culture, the society and the religious traditions really have not yet adapted to the 21st century world." Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Brennan said,"There is no light switch that can transition a country like Saudi Arabia, that just a generation or so ago was really anchored in a very traditional environment."
Calling the government in Riyadh one of America's closest partners in the battle against terrorism, he cited the Saudis for using a conservative form of Sunni Islam to fight the Shiite form that Iran has exported since its 1979 revolution. Brennan said some Saudi-supported organizations were "fully exploited" by those who promoted extremism.