Jul 13, 8:39 PM (ET) By Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday.
"This is about as serious a threat environment as I have seen since 9/11," said McLaughlin, the deputy director who took over on Sunday pending appointment of a permanent successor to Director George Tenet who resigned amid criticism of the agency's performance.
"The quality of the information we have now is such that we have high confidence that the nation needs to be on guard," McLaughlin told Reuters in a telephone interview.
He said the threats were not pinned specifically to the Democratic and Republican political conventions this summer but to the whole period before the November presidential election.
"It's related to this period during which the country is exercising its democracy, it's this period particularly in the run-up to the election, but it's always a mistake in the counterterrorism business to focus uniquely on a date," McLaughlin said. The attackers would strike when they are ready and not because of a specific date, he said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, earlier on Tuesday told reporters that "the chatter and the texture of the chatter is the highest it's been since 9/11." Chatter refers to communications among terrorism suspects.
"There's a lot of members taking second thoughts about attending conventions," Roberts said, but added that he planned to attend.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge renewed public warnings last week of possible attacks by al Qaeda in the United States this year, but offered no details and said there were no plans to raise the terror threat level.
"Credible reporting now indicates that al Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process," Ridge said........
TWA 800 - Wreckage Missing, Cases Pending, Eight Years Later (July 17th is the Anniversary Date)
E. Falmouth, MA (PRWEB) July 14, 2004 -- As the eight-year anniversary of the TWA 800 crash approaches, the first piece of wreckage that separated from the plane is missing. Navy divers located and recovered this piece, which left the plane at apparent supersonic speeds, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) failed to list it in their official debris field map..........
The pilot was overheard saying his eyes were burning
Posted: 07/13/2004 10:46 pm Last Updated: 07/13/2004 10:47 pm Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter Judi Lykowski A Southwest Airlines flight on its way to Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing at South Bend Regional airport Tuesday evening.
Southwest flight 933 was on its way from Raleigh, North Carolina to Midway Airport in Chicago when the pilot called for the emergency landing.
The pilot was overheard saying his eyes were burning and several members of his flight crew had similar discomfort.
Emergency crews scrambled into place When the flight made its approach emergency crews scrambled into place and set up on the runway. The emergency crews even backed away from the plane as it taxied into place.
"They had a report of smoke in the cabin and some passengers were having symptoms of discomfort so they landed here and they have mechanics that are going to look at the plane," said Airport Director of Operations Marci Greenberger, shortly after the plane landed.
Fortunately the crews weren’t needed and everyone on the plane was safe. Airport security checked out the aircraft and another Southwest plane out of Midway was called in to pick up the passengers.
"Department of Public Safety inspected the plane from the outside and it looked from the outside to not be a problem," stated Greenberger.
Passengers waited in plane for over four hours However it wasn’t an easy night for those on board the flight. The 110 passengers sat on the runway for over four hours. The torrential rains that pummeled Michiana made their situation even worse. Strong winds, rain and lightening delayed the passengers change to another plane, keeping them on the runway longer then expected.
The passengers were being prepared to fly out of South Bend and land in midway late Tuesday night. There is still no word on where the smoke in the cabin was coming from.
The pilot told NewsCenter 16 that one of the passengers on board was going to make a transfer to his final destination in South Bend, so Southwest allowed that gentleman to get off of the plane.
Oh my!