Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: t2 who wrote (51708)	5/19/2002 9:57:54 AM
From: Clappy	Respond to of 65232

NV, Your links didn't work. Could you repost them. I'd like to read the one "U.S. Intercepting Messages Hinting at a New Attack". Thanks. -CG

To: t2 who wrote (51708)	5/19/2002 10:03:59 AM
From: Clappy	Respond to of 65232

I think I found it. Maybe this was the one you referred to. story.news.yahoo.com U.S. Detects 'Enhanced' Threat of a New Attack Sun May 19, 2:16 AM ET By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence officials have detected "enhanced activity" that points to a potential new attack against the United States or American interests abroad, a White House official said on Saturday. The FBI (news - web sites) also warned of a possible plot by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network to detonate bombs in apartment buildings in the United States. The comments came as The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had intercepted a series of messages among al Qaeda operatives indicating the group is attempting to launch an attack as big as or bigger than the one on Sept. 11. Quoting unidentified intelligence and law enforcement officials, the Times characterized the communications as vague but disturbing. The intercepted messages are so general that they have left President Bush (news - web sites) and U.S. counterterrorism officials uncertain about the timing, location or method in this potential attack, the Times reported. The White House official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, "There has been information of concern, enhanced activity of concern" detected in recent weeks and months. "We are always concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack. The president and senior administration officials ... have told the country that there always exists the possibility of a terrorist attack against the country, and the country's interests. We as American citizens want to be vigilant, but also live our lives," the official added. Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said on Thursday that "without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists." Separately, the FBI received information that al Qaeda operatives were "considering renting apartments in unspecified areas of the United States and then planting explosives," said spokeswoman Debbie Weierman. The information was "nonspecific" and "uncorroborated," she said. During the last few days, the FBI passed the potential threat on to its field offices and local officials and managers and owners of apartment buildings, Weierman said. The FBI issued no official alerts and put out the notices "only in an abundance of caution," but there was "no reason to believe (the threat) has gone past the discussion phase," she added. CREDIBLE INTELLIGENCE Officials cited by the Times said the intercepted messages represent some of the most credible intelligence gathered on al Qaeda's plans since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington involving hijacked commercial airliners. U.S. intelligence agencies have gathered reports of potential threats to U.S. interests by al Qaeda continuously since then, an intelligence official who requested anonymity told Reuters. "We remain concerned that there could be an attack. They have not gone away," the official said. "There is threat reporting every day, we get new stuff every day." Asked whether the level of al Qaeda threat reports being picked up now was similar to before Sept. 11, the official said it was "in the neighborhood." Officials cited by the Times compared the messages with the pattern of communications picked up in the spring and early summer of 2001, when al Qaeda operatives were detected speaking about a major operation. "There's just a lot of chatter in the system again," a senior official told the Times. "We are actively pursuing it." One official said the volume of intelligence relating to a potential future attack -- in Europe, the Arabian Peninsula or the United States -- increased in the past month. The Times said messages referring to mass casualties did not specifically mention the use of weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Bush has faced criticism in recent days over disclosures that a series of possible clues about al Qaeda's plans went unheeded in the months before the attacks. The Washington Post reported in early Sunday editions that an aviation student named in a July 10 FBI memo that raised concerns about Middle Eastern men attending U.S. flight schools was an al Qaeda sympathizer who displayed a photo of bin Laden on his living room wall. While the FBI found no evidence the man and a second student at an Arizona flight school were connected to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Post said the memo contained several clues to the terror strategy employed two months later in the suicide attacks that killed 3,000 people. The Republican president has defended his handling of intelligence ahead of the attacks, adding: "Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people."