Posted on 04/16/2003 10:56:20 AM PDT by WaveThatFlag
Top Stories - AP
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By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration lowered the national terror alert level to "yellow" Wednesday, saying the end of heavy fighting in Iraq (news - web sites) has reduced the threat of terrorist attacks.
Some security measures around the country will be relaxed, officials said. It was unclear whether the heightened alert had prevented any terrorism.
The yellow level signifies an elevated risk of terrorist attacks. It is the middle level on the five-tier danger scale. The old level, orange, marks a high risk, and is the second-highest level.
Still, a significant threat remains, officials said.
"We must be vigilant and alert to the possibility that al-Qaida and those sympathetic to their cause, as well as former Iraqi-regime state agents and affiliated organizations, may attempt to conduct attacks against the U.S. or our interests abroad," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a statement.
The threat level was raised on March 17, days before the war began. Officials said threats from al-Qaida, Iraqi operatives and freelance terrorists all played into the decision to raise the level. Many of the enhanced security measures in the parallel "Operation Liberty Shield" — the code name for an alert system keyed specifically to Iraq — also will be terminated, officials said.
Officials typically don't describe what security measures are dropped for fear of exposing potential vulnerabilities.
"We believe that during 'Operation Liberty Shield,' there were individuals in places, at times, where they should not have been," said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "The investigations continue on those."
Roehrkasse declined to provide specifics.
The alert system is used to guide law enforcement agencies, businesses and the general public in their security decisions. It is driven by world events and information gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies.
It has bounced between yellow and orange since the system was put in place in March 2002. The highest alert level, red, and the two lowest, blue and green, have never been used.
This was the third time the alert level went to orange. No attacks took place in the previous heightened alerts.
For this alert, U.S. counterterrorism officials say the most specific information pointed to possible attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East. A recent statement from Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the Saudi-born leader of al-Qaida, declared some solidarity with Iraqis, although he referred to Saddam's government as infidels.
In addition, it was feared that operatives working for Iraq's Mukhabarat, Saddam's intelligence service, would attempt bombings or other traditional terrorist-style attacks, officials said. Many are thought to work out of Iraqi embassies around the world under diplomatic cover.
Shortly before the war, the administration asked 60 countries to expel some 300 people it alleged were Iraqi intelligence operatives. Many countries, their governments opposed to the war, refused.
Alleged Iraqi operatives were arrested in Jordan and Yemen in connection with plots against American embassies there. And the Philippines expelled several Iraqis for alleged links to espionage and Islamic extremist groups.
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