Posted on 05/25/2004 4:52:15 PM PDT by Wolfstar
17 minutes ago (at time of posting) The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday.
Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.
"There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.
The official declined to provide any specifics about the sources of the information but said there was an unusually high level of corroboration.
Despite that, the official said there was no immediate plan to raise the nation's terrorism threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high. The threat level has been at yellow — midpoint on the five-color scale — since January.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller plan a news conference Wednesday to outline an intensive effort by law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security officials to detect and disrupt any potential plots. And the FBI plans to dispatch a bulletin to some 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies warning of the threat.
Beginning with Saturday's dedication of the new World War II Memorial in Washington, the summer presents a number of high-profile targets in the United States. They include the G-8 summit in Georgia next month that will attract top officials from some of America's closest allies, the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July and the Republican National Convention in August in New York.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department also are concerned about so-called soft targets such as shopping malls anywhere in the United States that offer a far less protected environment than a political convention hall.
U.S. authorities repeatedly have said al-Qaida is determined to mount an attack on U.S. soil, in part to announce to the world that it remains capable of doing so despite the money and effort that has gone into homeland security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
There also is concern terrorists might try to mount an attack to coincide with the November election. The political fallout from the March 11 train bombings in Spain taught al-Qaida that an attack timed to an election can have a major impact. Spain's former ruling party was ousted in the voting that followed the bombing, which killed 191 and injured more than 2,000.
The official did not say how many suspected al-Qaida or other terrorist operatives are believed in the country, whether they made their way into the United States recently or have been here for some time. The FBI has warned in the past that Islamic extremist groups may attempt to recruit non-Middle Easterners or women for attacks because they would be less likely to arouse suspicion.
Special security attention already is being focused to the nation's rail, subway and bus lines. The FBI last week sent out an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies urging vigilance against suicide bombers, who have been used by terror groups worldwide to devastating effect but not so far in the United States.
Separately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Michael Garcia told reporters Tuesday that some 2,300 of its agents are being deployed to assist in security for the high-profile events scheduled this summer in the United States. These include as many as 20 agents each day working with the Secret Service to protect the campaigns of President Bush (news - web sites) and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), the Democratic presidential candidate.
Garcia said his agency also is working to "tighten the investigative system" to ensure that terrorists do not enter the United States by way of human smuggling operations or through the vast, largely unprotected border with Canada.
Makes you wonder what the illegal israelis were doing at Kings Bay sub base last week. Iraeli or Pali?
an attack on London elects Kerry? how's that.
To me, this is proof positive the President's presentation of last night was extremely effective!!! Things are coming to a head and the boil must be lanced!!!
My family and I live right between Cleveland and Detroit's house of Muslimism. Uh-oh.
Lord, protect our President and his team and give them strength and wisdom.
Thanks "Meek."You bet ! :^)
I won't be able to catch the press conference live tomorrow. Hopefully some kind FReeper will do a live thread.
Oh, yeah. I bet they will ! :^D
We think alike.
My military training has caused me to subconsciously survey my environment for threats and look for weaknesses in security wherever I am. It would be extremely easy to build some kind of explosive device and detonate it in a highly occupied area. I also fear massive attacks on schools that would paralyze parents. I'm truly astounded that we have yet to see the type of suicide bombings that Israel deals with on a regular basis.
We live in such an open society that it is indefensible in its current state.
I too miss the good ol' days when all you had to worry about was getting to work on time and making it to Friday.
Makes me want to just give it all up and move deep into the mountains of Eastern North Carolina, Tennessee or Kentucky. I like to think that in some quiet country mountain pocket there exists a peaceful time and place that our parents knew when they were children.
I might have to look into it myself. Thanks!!! Now I know where it DID come from. :)
It was on the news a month ago that THOUSANDS are crossing the Mexican border EVERY night.........and get this......they aren't Mexican! That alone gives me the shivers.
I thought we were fighting in Iraq to so the terrorist wont come here?
CLOSE THE FREAKING BORDERS! REFORM OUR IMMIGRATION POLICIES NOW!
they don't have any suitcase nukes.
But the nerve gas and anthrax is the big risk - that alleged attack in Jordan has been totally buried for some reason, still alot of stories out there about iraqi material being moved to Syria and the Bekaa Valley, and we never did "solve" the 2001 anthrax attacks.
I hope you and others who share your opinion are correct, and that my cynicism is misplaced. More than that, I hope we never have to find out either way.
However, I HONESTLY believe we will stop a WMD attack, now suicide bombings, that is another matter and IMPOSSIBLE to stop, and if there are enough of them, will have the same result.
Ping!
hehe ! Okay. :^)
So you don't believe that all the America bashing from the left hasn't enboldened our enemies? I think it has.
Emboldened? Perhaps, but is it not true that thousands simply walk into our country from both the North and South every day?
Peach.......I saved some of your pictures that you have on your Home Page of the President. I hope you don't mind. They are really good ones!!!!
I be panged..
The left, the media and the enemy have in large part, become indistiguishable.
Prairie
you will never be able to stop a team of 20 guys from coming across the canadian border for example. never, no matter what you do on that border. now that's not to say we shouldn't have better border security, we surely should. but for any terror group who was planning a large scale attack - the "getting over the border" part is always going to be alot easier then everything else.
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