February 12, 2002
F.B.I. Warns of Possible Terrorist Attack
By DAVID JOHNSTON
ASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — Based on information law enforcement officials said was obtained from detainees being held at Guantánamo Bay, the F.B.I. tonight issued a new security threat alert, more specific than any one before, warning of the possibility of an attack as early as Tuesday in the United States or Yemen.
In contrast to previous security alerts, which had been vague or had no specific time or place attached, the one tonight included the names of possible suspects and the day when the attack might happen. The warning had no reference to any specific terrorist organization, including Al Qaeda.
"Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12, 2002," the alert said. "One or more operatives may be involved in the attack."
With the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City already prompting counterterrorism officials to impose stringent security measures at airports and border check points, the bureau took the additional step tonight of alerting 18,000 law enforcement agencies of the possible new threat.
The F.B.I. later announced the alert on its Web site and posted photographs of the suspected terrorists to aid in possible identification. The alert did not indicate what the terrorists' target might be or how such an attack might be carried out.
The alert identified one possible attacker as Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Yemeni born in Saudi Arabia in 1979. It listed 16 associates of Mr. Rabeei, who the authorities said was not previously known to them as a member of a terrorist organization. The address of the F.B.I.'s Web site is www.fbi.gov.
Tonight's alert was the most urgent of any of the series of warnings and threat bulletins issued by the F.B.I. since October. Beyond the fear that the Olympics might be a target, the collapse of the Taliban government in Afghanistan has led intelligence officials to conclude that remaining Qaeda followers might try a retaliatory strike in the United States or elsewhere.
In recent days, American military officials said the detainees, who include both Qaeda and Taliban captives, were becoming more compliant and cooperative.
The information about the men in the new warning had been obtained in the last few days, but officials said they did not determine until this evening that the information was credible enough to warrant a public warning.
After a day in which F.B.I. counterterrorism officials struggled to confirm the accounts of the detainees, the bureau director, Robert S. Mueller III, about 7:30 P.M. ordered state and local authorities to be warned. Mr. Mueller was said to have decided that the government could not keep the information from the public once analysts deemed it credible.
Nevertheless, officials said they had not fully evaluated the information nor had they given security services from other countries an opportunity to analyze the information. The officials said they hoped other countries would help find or provide more information about the people identified in the security alert.
The new advisory was issued even as an alert was already in effect through the Winter Olympics and ending on March 11. When that warning was extended on Jan. 3, law enforcement officials said the warning was not based on a specific threat but on general intelligence of the continuing possibility of terrorist attacks against the United States and because the country's military forces remained in Afghanistan. Since then, the Olympics have heightened the concerns of intelligence and law enforcement officials.
The bulletin issued to law enforcement agencies tonight listed the names of 17 people, among them Saudis and Yemenis and a man who was said to be from Tunisia. Law enforcement officials said they did not know the whereabouts of any of the men. They said that they knew almost nothing about the men's backgrounds or whether they were affiliated with any known terrorist organizations.
In the past, Attorney General John Ashcroft has been criticized in Congress as being too quick to announce alerts without offering the public guidance about the nature, time or possible placeof an attack. Tonight's alert, while more specific than previous ones, provided no information about what kind of attack might be contemplated.