Coast Guard Warns of Maritime Terror Threat
June 09, 2002 03:46 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard told its units over the weekend to be on the lookout for possible acts of terrorism targeting the nation's ports, bays, rivers and shores.
The Coast Guard sent out the warning to all its units late on Friday night, said Cmdr. Jim McPherson, a Coast Guard spokesman in Washington.
News reports elsewhere said the Coast Guard was particularly concerned about attacks from scuba divers in Seattle's Puget Sound region, but McPherson and Bush Administration officials declined to give details of the threat.
"I can acknowledge that we did receive some additional maritime threat reports, but consistent with our official policy, I'm not going to speculate on scenarios or targets," McPherson said.
In recent months, Bush Administration officials have issued warnings about possible terror attacks on banks and landmarks like the Statue of Liberty in New York. They have also warned that terrorist groups could launch suicide attacks or get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.
White House chief of staff Andrew Card, appearing on the ABC "This Week" program, declined to elaborate on the announced threats.
"When we get specific threats, we make sure that the communities or the targets, potential targets, are informed. And that's what's happened," Card said.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that al Qaeda operatives, believed to be behind the Sept. 11 attacks on New York, Washington, are still active within the United States and throughout the world.
According to the White House Web site, the country remains at an elevated level of risk, or yellow on the color-coded scale implemented this year that rates the severity of threats.
A yellow alert is in the middle of the range indicating "significant" risk of attack. The next level, orange, could prompt calling in armed forces to back up law enforcement, and the highest alert of red would warn of a "severe risk" of terrorist attack.
People who see suspicious marine activity should contact the Coast Guard's national response center at (800) 424-8802, he said.
FBI officials did not return repeated calls.
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