RIDGE TO OUTLINE NEW U.S. THREAT INFORMATION
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will outline new intelligence about possible attacks planned against U.S. targets on Thursday, the White House announced.
Spokesman Scott McClellan said Ridge will hold an 11 a.m. EDT news conference on the "status of the threat," at a time when the United States is preparing for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions this summer.
"I think he'll point out that it's not precise or specific information related to time, place or location, but he's going to talk about the continued stream of intelligence reporting that we've been receiving going back over the last several weeks," McClellan said.
Ridge will also give an update on efforts under way to ramp up security in various parts of the country, he said.
U.S. officials have warned al Qaeda may be planning a major attack in the United States in this presidential election year.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040708/ts_nm/security_ridge_dc
News Conference at 11:00 a.m.
Increased risk of terrorism seen before election
Ridge to discuss ‘enhanced activity’ by al-Qaida at news conference
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC and NBC News
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET July 08, 2004
WASHINGTON - U.S. counterintelligence has detected “enhanced activities” by al-Qaida that indicate the nation is at increased risk of terrorist attack before the Nov. 2 presidential election, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday.
Frist, speaking to reporters at the Capitol after receiving a classified briefing from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller, said the threats were “non specific.”
Ridge scheduled an 11 a.m. ET news conference to discuss the threat.
The White House told NBC News that Ridge would not raise the threat-assessment level, which currently is set at “yellow,” or elevated, but would discuss the "continuous stream" of threat warnings the government has been receiving.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5394851