Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles - Daily Terror Threat

Debka ^ | 11-3-2003 | Staff

[JustPiper]

Ah, the frogmen a few are worried about

[Mossad1967]

When have you known the Gov't to do something that isn't assenine at times, regardless of administrations?

[JustPiper]

HeHe sounds like Perot....I used to say oh crap, everytime he got his little pointing stick and boring personality and it was the only why he could communicate. I use to think how would he run a war ;)

[TomInNJ]

Thank you and amen, Pegita.

[JustPiper]

I looked after a second post came across with this news and went to all 3 cable channels and found the story only at FNC, so I posted it, as did I think Mossad

[JustPiper]

But Kat as someone else posted: That's bad news, that means an attack is imminent. You'll see that is the general consensus here, even if they do lower it that's not all that of encouraging news

[JustPiper]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security (search) announced that the United States would stay in a heightened state of terror alert beyond the holiday season, but the country may in fact be ready to downgrade the alert level fairly soon, Fox News has learned.

[JustPiper]

The sea is a definite target, your correct in thinking so

[JustPiper]

Report: Syria hiding Iraqi WMD Sources say relative of President Assad smuggled arms to 3 places -A relative of Syrian President Bashar Assad is hiding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in three locations in Syria, according to intelligence sources cited by an exiled opposition party. - The weapons were smuggled in large wooden crates and barrels by Zu Alhema al-Shaleesh, known for moving arms into Iraq in violation of U.N. resolutions and for sending recruits to fight coalition forces, said the U.S.-based Reform Party of Syria.

[TexKat]

DHS Awards Contract for Anti-Missile Devices to Protect Commercial Aircraft

January 6, 2004 - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology division today announced that teams led by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines have been selected for agreement negotiations. The team will be expected to develop a plan and test prototypes to help determine whether a viable technology exists that could be deployed to address the potential threat that MAN-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) pose to commercial aircraft.

"The President and the Secretary are taking a very aggressive approach on measures to counter the potential threat of shoulder-fired missiles," said Dr. Charles McQueary, Under Secretary, Science and Technology. "These efforts are part of a larger undertaking by the Administration that includes completing security assessments and implementing reasonable responsive measures at our nation's airports as well as working with our international partners to reduce the number of weapons potentially available to terrorists."

Under the agreement, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines will each receive approximately $2 million for Phase I of the project. In this first phase, which will last approximately six months, these contractors will produce a plan to adapt military missile detection and countermeasure technologies for commercial aircraft use.

BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines were selected from among 24 candidates that submitted White Papers in response to a solicitation issued the first week of October 2003. Of that group, five contractors were invited to submit full proposals. Each of these final candidates gave a four-hour oral presentation to government representatives including officials from the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Transportation, State and Treasury. The selected contractors each bring operational experience to this important effort through their partnerships with major air carriers.

These selections are the next step in DHS' aggressive two-phased systems development and demonstration program for the evaluation of anti-missile devices for commercial aircraft. This initiative is intended to adapt existing technology from military to commercial aviation use, rather than develop new technology. Phase I will also provide an analysis of the economic, manufacturing and maintenance issues necessary to operate counter-MANPADs systems in the civil aviation environment. Phase II will include a prototype demonstration and rigorous test and evaluation process of existing technology.

McQueary added that "the Science and Technology division is proud to support the Department's efforts in this critical area of aviation security through our Counter-MANPADS Special Program Office. We look forward to working with BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines to determine if in fact there is a viable and effective technology we could deploy to protect commercial aircraft."

The goal of the Counter-MANPADS Special Program Office is to manage Homeland Security's development and demonstration efforts for commercial air protection in liaison with the private sector. The Office is working closely with the Department of Defense and other federal agencies to provide Homeland Security with advice, assistance and detailees to support the Department's efforts to find commercial applications for military technologies.

[JustPiper]

Northwest Airlines flight diverted to Billings due to unruly passenger
Associated Press

BILLINGS - A Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Boise, Idaho, made an unscheduled landing here Tuesday after an apparently intoxicated passenger became unruly and assaulted others on board, a federal aviation official said.

John Kinney, acting federal security director in Billings, said Flight 1279 landed at Billings Logan International Airport shortly after 1 p.m., and that a female passenger was removed and taken into custody. He said the flight was on the ground for nearly 11/2 hours before resuming.

Yellowstone County authorities identified the woman as Judith McKenith, 55, of Bergenfield, N.J. She was not immediately charged.


Kinney said the plane was over Montana when the passenger became "physically engaging" with others on board. He said one passenger asked her to settle down and the woman struck that person in the face.

He said the woman lashed out at about a half dozen others, including a flight crew member - kicking, biting and slapping them - before finally being subdued by passengers. Kinney said the woman also was combative with local police who took her into custody.

Billings Police Chief Ron Tussing said police helped remove the passenger but that the matter would be handled by federal officials.

Dan Vierthaler, supervisor for eastern Montana with the FBI, said his agency responded, but that he could not comment at length. He said he was unsure what charges, if any, may be filed.

The U.S. attorney in Billings did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

Kinney said no one on board required medical attention.

[Mossad1967]

'Dirty Bomb' Threat Was Big New Year's Eve Worry
By John Mintz and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 7, 2004; Page A01

With huge New Year's Eve celebrations and college football bowl games only days away, the U.S. government last month dispatched scores of casually dressed nuclear scientists with sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags to scour five major U.S. cities for radiological, or "dirty," bombs, according to officials involved in the emergency effort.

The call-up of Department of Energy radiation experts to Washington, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Baltimore was the first since the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was conducted in secrecy, in contrast with the very public cancellation of 15 commercial flights into this country from France, Britain and Mexico -- the other major counterterrorism response of the holiday season.

The new details of the government's search for a dirty bomb help explain why officials have used dire terms to describe the reasons for the nation's fifth "code orange" alert, issued on Dec. 21 by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. U.S. officials said they remain worried today -- in many cases, more concerned than much of the American public realizes -- that their countermeasures would fall short.

"Government officials are surprised that people [in the United States] aren't more hyped about all this," said one source familiar with counterterrorism preparations.

Even now, hundreds of nuclear and bioweapons scientists remain on high alert at several military bases around the country, ready to fly to any trouble spot. Pharmaceutical stockpiles for responding to biological attacks are on transportable trucks at key U.S. military bases.

Officials said intelligence can be misleading, and some in law enforcement acknowledged that there is no way to know the actual urgency of the threats. Officials said one of their key challenges is determining whether al Qaeda is planting provocative but false clues as a diversion or as deliberate disinformation to test the U.S. response. Some foreign governments have voiced concerns that the United States is overreacting.

In recent days, intelligence has become even more difficult to sort through, officials said yesterday, because of what one described as "circular" repeating of information that has been made public.

The attention to a potential dirty bomb, for example, resulted not from specific recent information indicating such an attack but from the belief among officials that al Qaeda is sparing no effort to try to detonate one.

The terror crisis began late on Dec.19, when analysts assembled what they described as extremely specific intelligence, including electronic intercepts of al Qaeda operatives' telephone calls or e-mails. One fear was that al Qaeda would hijack and crash an overseas flight into a U.S. city or the ocean. Another was that terrorists would shoot down an airliner with a shoulder-fired missile.

U.S. officials also became concerned that a large, open-air New Year's Eve celebration might be targeted. While the perimeters of football stadiums can generally be secured, outdoor celebrations are much more vulnerable, they said.

One of the U.S. officials' main fears was of a dirty bomb, in which a conventional bomb is detonated and spews radioactive material and radiation across a small area. Security specialists say such a weapon is unlikely to cause mass casualties but could cause panic and devastate a local economy.

On the same day that Ridge raised the national threat level to orange ("high") from yellow ("elevated"), the Homeland Security Department sent out large fixed radiation detectors and hundreds of pager-size radiation monitors for use by police in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit.

Homeland Security also ordered the dispatch of scores of Energy Department radiation experts to cities planning large public events. One of them was Baltimore, where Coast Guard and Energy Department personnel patrolled the waterfront with sophisticated radiation detectors in preparation for a New Year's Eve party at the Inner Harbor.

Dozens of others fanned out in Manhattan, where, on New Year's Eve, up to 1 million people were scheduled to gather in Times Square. Still others converged on Las Vegas, home of a huge yearly New Year's Eve party on the Strip, and on Los Angeles, where the Rose Bowl parade on New Year's Day draws as many as 1 million people.

The Energy Department scientists proceeded to their assigned locations to take covert readings with their disguised radiological equipment in a variety of settings.

"Our guys can fit in a sports stadium, a construction site or on Fifth Avenue," one Energy Department official said. "Their equipment is configured to look like anybody else's luggage or briefcase."

Starting on Dec. 22, the teams crisscrossed those cities, taking measurements 24 hours a day. FBI agents persuaded businesses in some cities -- including hotels and truck-rental firms in Las Vegas -- to voluntarily turn over lists of guests or customers for comparison with terrorism watch lists.

On Dec. 29 in Las Vegas, the searchers got their first and only radiation "spike," at a rented storage facility near downtown. The finding sent a jolt of tension through the nation's security apparatus; the White House was notified. The experts rechecked the reading with a more precise machine that told them that inside the cinderblock storage unit was radium, a radioactive material used in medical equipment and on watch dials.

As rare snow fell on the city that early morning, FBI agents secured the industrial neighborhood around the site, and a small army of agents and scientists converged on the business. Soon the renter of the storage closet in question, a homeless man, happened on the odd scene and asked the officers not to cut his padlock. He supplied the key.

The scientists sent in a robot to snag a duffel bag in which the man had been storing a cigar-size radium pellet -- which is used to treat uterine cancer -- since he found the shiny stainless-steel object three years before. Not knowing what the object was, he had wrapped it in his nighttime pillow. Officials said he has not exhibited any signs of ill health, yet. The man, whose name could not be obtained, was released.

Five tense hours after their radiation detectors had spiked, officials concluded there was no security crisis in the storage locker.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...9-2004Jan6.html

[TexKat]

You'll see that is the general consensus here, even if they do lower it that's not all that of encouraging news

I never once said that it was encouraging news. You may want to check my prior post.

[Mossad1967]

The new details of the government's search for a dirty bomb help explain why officials have used dire terms to describe the reasons for the nation's fifth "code orange" alert, issued on Dec. 21 by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. U.S. officials said they remain worried today -- in many cases, more concerned than much of the American public realizes -- that their countermeasures would fall short.

"Government officials are surprised that people [in the United States] aren't more hyped about all this," said one source familiar with counterterrorism preparations.

Even now, hundreds of nuclear and bioweapons scientists remain on high alert at several military bases around the country, ready to fly to any trouble spot. Pharmaceutical stockpiles for responding to biological attacks are on transportable trucks at key U.S. military bases.

Doesn't that make you feel all warm inside???

[Pro-Bush]

I think Ridge will lower the threat level soon. Trying to settle the markets. Wall Street doesn't like the terror jitters.

DHS will probably lower the threat level publicly, but look for a high level of security to exist, especially with the foreign inbound flights. Domestically, we'll step down on overt security measures (except NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.) and concentrate on intelligence gathering and monitoring/protecting key infrastructure locations.

[JustPiper]

Steve Quayle NEW!!!

Jan. 05 -ongoing

Location

New York City;Los Angeles;Washington, DC.,Las Vegas

Lawrence Livermore,Los Alamos and Sandia top defense labs

German nuclear reactor at Biblis

ATTACK TYPE

Stolen passenger and cargo planes loaded with WMD; concern for planes coming in through both borders massive anthrax letter and package mailing campaign

Stolen fuel trucks

TARGET

Luxor Hotel in Vegas due to its proximity to the airport; L.A.'s Staples Center; NYC financial district; the White House in Washington, DC

Labs

INTEL SOURCE

DoD sources, massive Internet chatter, al-Qaeda detainees under interrogation and pronouncements from high-ranking Jihad officials

DoD sources

ATTACK PROBABILITY

Extremely High=(one notch below In Progress)

High

To read the chart in regards to how etc.:

Steve Quayle

[Oorang]

At least Perot was using his pointing stick on TV. Kucinich was using his pie chart on a radio show! I'm still chuckling about it.

[JustPiper]

COMMENT:

Due to the volume of intel regarding hijacked aircraft headed for the US, it should be expected that all flights from foreign ports may be cancelled at a moment's notice. The primary targets could be attacked via air or from ground-based terrorist groups. The recurring theme in all communications is the simultaneous destruction of cities in multiple attacks using non-conventional weapons and suicide bombers throughout the country. Concerning the nuclear weapons labs, it is being stated that certain terrorist organizations have been given the keys to these facilities in order to expedite their destruction. Hospitals have been notified across the country to prepare for massive influx of patients and to go to "red alert" immediately. The Biblis nuclear plant in Germany is a target which was supposed to be destroyed by a hijacked Lufthansa airplane.

[mindspy]

They did the same thing prior to 911. Remember how they harped on Chandra Levy and Gary Condit all summer and then bam out of the blue we struck by a terrorist attack.

[JustPiper]

Kucinich was using his pie chart on a radio show!

I missed the radio part before LMBO!!!

Reminds me of as a kid listening to the radio, yes thats all we had at the time. And watching that speaker intently as if we could see "The Shadow! LOL!