Ridge Warns Terrorism Threat Not Over
Sat Jan 10, 9:11 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!
By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The risk of terrorist attacks faded a bit with the end of the holidays, but it didn't go away.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Tom Ridge & Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced Friday that the nation's threat level had been lowered, but "critical resources and locales" will remain on heightened alert. He also said uneasiness remains about al-Qaida's interest in using commercial planes to mount an attack.
"We have not let our guard down," Ridge said at a news conference.
Increased security will continue in certain airports as well as the cities of New York, Washington and Los Angeles, said a Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. A few of the many hundreds of dams, bridges and chemical plants that received heightened protection during the higher alert will continue under extra vigilance, the official said.
Ridge said that after a careful review of intelligence the threat level was taken down a notch to yellow, or "elevated," the midpoint on the government's five-color scale. It had been at orange, or "high," since Dec. 21.
He would not offer specifics about continued threats. An intelligence official said separately that certain extremists abroad had raised the possibility of attacks in the near term, but such attacks no longer were expected.
The national alert level has been raised to orange five times since the system was announced in March 2002. It has never dipped below yellow, the middle of five levels.
New security regulations for airlines that were put in place by the Transportation Security Administration in the past month remain in effect. Those include a requirement that international flights carry armed guards "when necessary," restrictions on passengers congregating in airplane aisles and greater preflight scrutiny of passenger lists.
David Plavin, president of the airport trade group Airports Council International-North America, said airports can keep security tight even if the federal government tells them they don't have to.
"Every airport makes its own judgment," Plavin said. If they choose to tighten security, he said, "they're probably not going to tell you."
The decision to increase the terror alert just before Christmas and keep it there past the New Year's holiday prompted some criticism. Officials in some cash-strapped cities complained about the added costs for emergency personnel, while others said the lack of specificity about where an attack might occur needlessly put the whole country on edge.
Ridge reiterated that the decision to raise the alert came after "the most significant convergence" since Sept. 11, 2001, of intelligence indicating attacks were possible. That, coupled with the prospect of many holiday gatherings of large crowds, made it appropriate to raise the level, he said.
Ridge said it won't be known for weeks or months whether the increased vigilance thwarted any attacks, but he said there is no doubt the increased presence of police and other security professionals is a deterrent.
He said that when the threat level was raised previously, it later was learned through interrogations of terrorism suspects that the step altered plans.
The government took a number of unprecedented steps during the heightened alert. More than a dozen flights from London, Paris and Mexico City were canceled due to intelligence that indicated they could be terror targets. Other flights received escorts from fighter jets. Sensor equipment and undercover nuclear experts were deployed to major cities to search for radiation and biological weapons.
Governors, mayors and police chiefs are being asked to keep certain "orange-level" measures in place at specific facilities.
Washington, for example, deactivated its joint operations center, which has been staffed around the clock since the threat alert was raised, according to Deputy Mayor Margret Nedelkoff Kellems. But conference calls involving local, federal and regional authorities from as many as three dozen law enforcement agencies will continue at least once a day, she said.
"There's obviously a lot of critical infrastructure in the region, and they've asked us to pay special attention to those," Kellems said.
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On the Net:
Homeland Security Department: dhs.gov
Transportation Security Administration: tsa.gov
Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites): faa.gov |
