In Overheard Calls, Terrorists Spoke of Major Attack, Officials Say

New York Times ^ | 11/02/01 | JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON

[kattracks]

ASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — Government officials intercepted telephone conversations in recent days in which members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, Al Qaeda, spoke urgently of an imminent attack against American targets even larger than the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, senior government officials say.

Intelligence reports based on the intercepted communications frightened the officials who read them and played a decisive role in the Bush administration's decision to issue its latest warning Monday of an imminent terrorist attack, the senior officials said.

Al Qaeda intercepts were interpreted as extraordinarily clear signals of potential danger in part because of the urgent and serious tone of the conversations. Officials said the terrorist operatives were overheard talking about an operation that would be even bigger than the Sept. 11 hijackings. Officials said they intercepted several of these conversations between Al Qaeda members in several countries.

Counterterrorism analysts at the C.I.A. and F.B.I. who reviewed the intercepts judged their credibility to be high also because they determined that the participants believed no one was eavesdropping on their discussions, the officials added.

The reports, supported by other intelligence, were rushed to President Bush and his national security aides on Monday morning. Senior national security officials were quickly persuaded that the potential threat was grave. But the debate at the White House over whether to issue an alert lasted several hours. Some counterterrorism officials expressed strong disagreement with issuing another nonspecific alert like the warning issued on Oct. 10.

When the administration issued the public warning of another attack on Monday, senior members of Congress criticized the decision, saying it raised fears among Americans without providing any specific information that would allow the nation to prepare. But the administration said the intercepts were so worrying that they had little choice.

Officials who have seen the intelligence reports said they raised greater concerns than did the intelligence that prompted the Oct. 10 warning. The latest intercepts indicated that Al Qaeda operatives were talking about a big event and discussed a specific time frame for action, prompting the government to warn of a terrorist attack within the week.

The intercepted communications did not provide specific clues about where the attacks might come, and the intelligence did not indicate whether the terrorists were planning actions inside the United States or against American interests overseas. The reports also did not even suggest the nature of the plot or the methods, officials said.

Tom Ridge, director of homeland security; George Tenet, director of central intelligence; Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director; and Attorney General John Ashcroft were each advised of the threat soon after the intelligence was collected. The information, along with sanitized but still secret summaries, was described in secret briefings for a few top lawmakers, officials said.

Throughout Monday, the government's still evolving threat-assessment network worked to reach a consensus on whether to issue a new alert — knowing that the Oct. 10 warning was criticized by lawmakers and state and local authorities for spreading fear without offering any information about where or how terrorists might strike.

As a result, some senior officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation were reluctant to recommend issuing a second warning on Monday. But Mr. Ashcroft and other senior administration officials were persuaded that the threat was too significant to be ignored. In the end, the White House said it was Mr. Bush who made the decision to issue the threat warning, the officials said.

Officials also said they hoped the warning would persuade state and local authorities to increase their vigilance. They added that they had believed an attack was imminent when they issued the Oct. 10th warning, but that it was delayed or prevented, possibly as a result of the arrests and detentions of suspected Al Qaeda operatives in the United States and overseas.

Frustration by state and local officials about the vague nature of the warnings on both Oct. 10 and Monday may help explain the F.B.I.'s decision to issue a more specific warning that terrorists were planning rush- hour attacks against four California bridges, possibly as early as Friday. Senior officials added, however, that they found the intelligence behind that threat less credible than the intelligence leading to the national warning issued on Monday.

Gov. Gray Davis of California, who announced the threat warning this afternoon, said law enforcement officials believed that the Golden Gate Bridge or Bay Bridge, both in San Francisco, the Vincent Thomas Bridge at the Port of Los Angeles or the Coronado Bridge in San Diego were all potential targets.

While the intelligence that prompted Monday's warning was general, officials have scrambled to respond to potential vulnerabilities. Aviation authorities have barred flights over nuclear power plants and have created a no-fly zone in the vicinity of buildings thought to be potential targets, like the Sears Tower in Chicago.

[c. l. coffman]

Geez, looks like I gotta refill the candy dish with Zoloft.

[ladyinred]

I sincerely think the government is doing everything it can to accomplish what you are asking for. Many of them are being detained and questioned. I think I saw over a thousand already. It takes time to find them, they come here and disappear. The investigation is on going but you have to give them time to find all of the terrorists that are among us.

[mercy]

Never happen. The dems will not field a woman candidate in time of war. Impossible. That aside, I am losing it. This is insane. I'm leaving. I'm emmigrating to Israel where I can die fighting terrs not sitting around waiting to be offed. This is so nuts I can not express my rage. Bush is nothing if he continues this sickening policy of allowing more and more terrs in and not throwing out the existing ones. I'm starting to hate him.

[fone]

>>They added that they had believed an attack was imminent when they issued the Oct. 10th warning, but that it was delayed or prevented<<

Don't these crybabies get it? We took extra caution, nothing happened.
Isn't that a GOOD thing?

Were their plans thwarted? Was it a red herring?
We may never know this side of the veil.

As long as they keep people on their toes I've got no problems here.
It's when the sheeple start hitting the snooze button that we need to worry.

Ever vigilant, ever hopeful.

[Dog Gone]

A dead bin Laden is definitely a better outcome than one captured and held for trial. It would destabilize governments. It cannot be permitted to happen.

Bin Laden may, however, be more valuable to us alive than dead, if it keeps world opinion generally on our side AND we are able to prevent further acts of terrorism.

We're barely handling the anthrax now, even though it has killed less people than died on Interstate 10 today.

[Tatze]

Just look at how people are reacting to the Anthrax scare and you realize that there doesnt even have to be an attack. All they have to do is get on a phone they know is tapped and talk about some ficticious attack and it will paralyze the country.

The House has already run for cover once, and are already making plans to convene at a military base in D.C. if needed. Here in Atlanta, a HS was evacuated because one kid had the flu. And a plane was evacuated because someone drops a greeting card and colored glitter falls out. Is this the same country with nerves of steel that fought and won WWII?? Hardly! More people die in car wrecks in a single day than have contracted any form of anthrax, but if you didnt know any better, you wouldve thought we were hit by the plague with thousands dead. Maybe its just media overhype.

Sorry, Ill stop venting.

[mercy]

I'm not emoting. I'm promising.

[Dog Gone]

Get some help. Seriously. It's available.

[glf]

Fox News' resident lawyer said this afternoon that if war were declared against Afghanistan & the Taliban that anyone caught in this country aiding & abetting while in civilian dress could be tried by the military, convicted, and summarily executed (meaning at sunrise the following day). ALL CONSTITUTIONALLY !! WHERE IS THE WAR DECLARATION ??? WE ARE AT WAR RIGHT?? THE TWIN TOWERS WAS AN ACT OF WAR RIGHT ??? HUNT THESE FILTHY DOGS DOWN & KILL THEM !!!!!

[mercy]

**** you have to give them time to find all of the terrorists that are among us.****

Order all non citizen ME visitors to report to the nearest police station. Call out the guard. Detain them anywhere till sent OUT. Then go after the ones who did not come in. Arrest and imprison. All of them.

[mercy]

YES!!!

[habs4ever]

I understand that several are already in custody, and the big cheese, Marbawh, who operated out of Toronto, has been held as material witness in Chicago since 9/11.

[sinkspur]

I'm not emoting. I'm promising.

You've lost all perspective. And to think I used to look forward to your posts.

Now, the "all-caps" posts make me think you're going to need a strait-jacket before this is over.

Say some prayers, man. This ain't all there is.

[Terrorista Nada]

LOL... a Democrat president would be retaliatory bombing against upstate New York right now... LOL

[medved]

The real prize in those caves is not bin ladin's head but rather every piece of paper with a name and phone number written down on it and every computer disk. My own first option: Fry the idiots inside their caves with neutron bombs, and then walk in there like Captain Marvel, pick up the papers and computer disks, and walk out and, if there's anything recognizable left of bin laden, feed it to the pigs and televise same to the muslim world.

[maranatha]

No, I don't think he said trial. He said if they were known to be an enemy they could be shot on the spot. Just like any war when you spot an enemy.

[Gracey]

I WILL ACTIVELY WORK FOR THE ELECTION OF ANY DEMOCRAT WHO RUNS AGAINST HIM. ANY DEMOCRAT.

I used to like your posts. What has happened to you - is it a case of PMS? I'm sorry about that. I have some medication to calm you down.

Now PLEASE, as a good FREEPER, go tell HITLARY you apologize and that you won't help her get elected!!!!

[onyx]

The source(s), human and gadgetry. For President Bush to place the highest alert status, the human source has to be a "reliably proven" source. I suspect that the gadgetry confirmed the information provided by the human source.

[blam]

"I suspect that the gadgetry confirmed the information provided by the human source."

Yup. I can see that they struggled with the decision to tell me. They trust me. Now, I can trust them.

[ClancyJ]

Bush is nothing if he continues this sickening policy of allowing more and more terrs in and not throwing out the existing ones. I'm starting to hate him.

Typical same old blame Bush, "if Bush doesn't do _________, I will never support him" blah, blah, blah.

Go ahead and leave. We have enough enemies in this country and in the press, one less may help our cause.