Posted on 12/24/2003 5:47:06 AM PST by pttttt
Tuesday, December 23, 2003, 12:00 A.M. Pacific
Risk of holiday terror far-flung, officials say
By Seattle Times news services
Al-Qaida operatives may be plotting several unrelated attacks in the United States, targeting not only major cities but also remote bulwarks of the "critical infrastructure" in an effort to cause mass casualties and major economic damage, U.S. officials said yesterday.
Senior U.S. counter-terrorism officials said they have been unable to nail down specifics about a time or place for any potential attacks, despite a mad scramble to do so since receiving an alarming cache of corroborated intelligence beginning last Thursday.
But the officials say the intelligence they have received — much of it from intercepted communications among known terrorists overseas — clearly refers to at least one series of coordinated, simultaneous strikes like those of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as isolated plots of varying degrees of sophistication.
Much of the recent intelligence makes broad references to large urban areas, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Las Vegas, while other pieces of intelligence cite less well-known locales such as Rappahannock County, Va., and Valdez, Alaska, where tankers load oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, according to several senior U.S. officials.
According to information received as recently as yesterday, authorities remain primarily concerned about al-Qaida terrorists plotting to hijack commercial airliners and cargo planes and fly them into U.S. targets, as Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Sunday in announcing the decision to elevate the terror threat level one notch, from "elevated," or yellow, to "high," or orange.
But the FBI, CIA and other authorities have also picked up troubling intelligence about other plots to blow up chemical and hazardous materials facilities, nuclear power plants, dams, power grids, ports and airports.
Of particular concern, said one senior federal law enforcement official, are vague references to upcoming attacks on "major metropolitan areas and events that we're looking at ... bowl games, New Year's events, that kind of thing."
"There is no one specific threat here. There is no place or time to tie to this," said the senior federal law-enforcement official.
The intelligence that has prompted such an unprecedented level of concern comes from conversations among known terrorists and also from information gleaned from intercepted e-mails, discussions in Internet chat rooms and interrogations of al-Qaida detainees on several continents, several senior U.S. counter-terrorism officials said.
Across the nation, authorities tightened security at bridges, tunnels, ports, landmarks, nuclear and chemical facilities, and other possible targets of attack. The police presence on New York's streets and in its subway system increased visibly. Inspections at ports of entry were increased, the FBI established 24-hour command centers at all 56 of its field offices, and security at the United Nations was tightened.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it had stepped up air patrols with F-16 fighter jets around "critical infrastructure."
At Chicago's Sears Tower, extra steps were taken to keep visitors to the landmark safe, including increased walking patrols. Canine patrols were increased at O'Hare and Midway airports, and flight paths over the city may be altered.
Inspections have been boosted at all 301 U.S. entry points.
"Our government is doing everything we can to protect our country," President Bush said yesterday. "American citizens need to go about their lives, but as they do so, they need to know that governments at all levels are working as hard as we possibly can to protect the American citizens."
Compiled from reports by the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company
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