WASHINGTON July 7, 2004 — Top FBI, CIA and Homeland Security Department officials briefed House members Wednesday about a steady stream of intelligence indicating al-Qaida may seek to mount an attack aimed at disrupting U.S. elections.
All House members were invited to the session at the Rayburn House Office Building with FBI Director Robert Mueller; Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security; and John Brennan, a CIA official who heads the joint CIA-FBI Terrorism Threat Integration Center.
Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he could not discuss specifics of the presentation. But he said there are broad concerns that al-Qaida wants to strike inside the United States this summer or fall and hopes to influence the U.S. election, as terrorists did in Spain with the deadly Madrid train bombings in March.
"There is a steady drumbeat of reporting and the threat has not abated," Cox, R-Calif., told reporters.
Convention security subject of high-level congressional briefing
07/07/04
House and Senate leaders were called to the White House Tuesday night for a secretive, high-level national security briefing to discuss federal efforts to thwart terrorism in the months leading up to the November election.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/07/convention.security/index.html