Anti-Aircraft Missiles Deployed Around Washington
Wed February 12, 2003 11:05 AM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has deployed jeep-mounted Stinger anti-aircraft missiles around the nation's capital in an increased alert against possible terrorist attack, defense officials said on Wednesday.
The nation's threat alert was raised last week to "orange," the second highest level, due to reported threats from multiple sources with strong ties to al Qaeda. The extremist group is blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.
The defense officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that heat-seeking Stinger missiles -- weapons that can be fired from the shoulder -- had been deployed in mobile "Avenger" systems on jeeps also carrying firing and guidance units. Each is operated by a two-member crew.
The officials refused to say exactly where or how many units had been deployed this week, but some were protecting the Pentagon. The sprawling Defense Department headquarters was struck by a hijacked airliner on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Avenger systems were also deployed around Washington last September on the first anniversary of the attacks, but were later removed.
The new defense system is integrated with F-16 fighter jet patrols protecting Washington around the clock and radar and emergency communications between the military and civilian agencies.
'MOST SERIOUS' SINCE 2001 ATTACKS
On the day the Pentagon was hit in 2001, two other hijacked airliners smashed into the World Trade Center in New York. A fourth hijacked airliner, believed headed for Washington, later crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
The attacks left 3,000 people dead and were blamed on the al Qaeda network of fugitive militant Osama bin Laden.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said last Friday the threat of a major terror attack against the United States in the next three weeks was perhaps the equivalent of eight on a scale of one to 10.
Hours earlier, the government raised its terrorist threat index for only the second time, warning that newly acquired intelligence indicated a "high risk" of attacks by al Qaeda on U.S. targets at home and abroad.
U.S. analysts "have concluded without a doubt ... that this is the most serious convergence of information we've had since September 11, 2001," Ridge said.
U.S. law enforcement and public health officials warned of possible attacks involving chemical, biological or radiological weapons, including ricin, cyanide, nerve agents or "dirty bombs" that could spread radioactive debris over a wide area.
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