Sorry folks, FBI is confirming this threat (hope they can pre-empt it), sends out alert:
Latest FBI bulletin warns of attempt by al-Qaida for 'spectacular' attack
sfgate.com
CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer Thursday, November 14, 2002
(11-14) 21:43 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
The FBI warned Thursday that al-Qaida is likely to attempt a "spectacular" attack intended to inflict large-scale casualties and damage the U.S. economy.
The latest FBI warning was circulated to law enforcement officials nationwide despite a lack of specific credible evidence. It has not led the Bush administration to raise the terrorist threat level above code yellow, or "elevated," which is the middle of a five-point scale of risk developed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Yet, there is clearly worry that the danger is growing because of increased "chatter" picked up through intelligence channels, the continuing U.S. showdown with Iraq and the recently revealed taped warnings believed to be from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
"Sources suggest al-Qaida may favor spectacular attacks that meet several criteria: High symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the U.S. economy, and maximum psychological trauma," says the alert, which was posted on the FBI's Web site after midnight when its existence was reported by The New York Times and The Associated Press.
"The highest priority targets remain within the aviation, petroleum, and nuclear sectors as well as significant national landmarks," the alert says.
The FBI bulletin, which is sent weekly to law enforcement officials around the country, contains no information about the time, place or method of a possible attack. But it warns that terrorists appear to be aiming for the maximum possible harm.
Federal authorities have previously issued warnings for those specific industries and national landmarks in general, but the FBI bulletin is unusual because of the dire language it uses.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that although the terrorism risk level is not being raised for now, "We are taking additional precautions to meet the threat."
These include unspecified "additional steps to ramp up our protection and prevention measures" within federal agencies, McClellan said. The FBI and other agencies also are communicating possible threats and assessments of risk to state and local law enforcement agencies and specific industries that could be targeted.
In recent weeks, the FBI has issued warnings about possible attacks on U.S. railroads and on the energy industry, as well as a more general warning about heightened risk during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started Wednesday and ends Dec. 5.
"We're especially sensitive to time frames which might be thought by the enemy to be a time when they might want to make a statement," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.
Last week, the State Department warned that Thursday's execution of Pakistani Aimal Khan Kasi in Virginia, could lead to reprisal attacks against Americans. Two days after his conviction, assailants shot and killed four American oil company workers in Karachi, Pakistan. Kasi was executed for killing two CIA employees in a 1993 shooting outside the agency's headquarters.
On Wednesday, the FBI told authorities in Houston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington to be aware of threats against hospitals. Even though that threat was assigned low credibility by senior law enforcement officials, the FBI is preferring to err on the side of caution in terms of giving out information, officials said.
The idea is to increase vigilance among local police and people working in industries that are potential targets.
The recent nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, the assault on Marines in Kuwait, and the attack on a French oil tanker near Yemen -- as well as the U.S. strike on a car carrying suspected terrorists, also in Yemen -- are described by several law enforcement officials as actions that point to an increased threat.
"If there was any doubt in anybody's mind that al-Qaida remains a dangerous threat to America or the world, I suspect it was dispelled with the string of attacks," Tom Ridge, director of the White House homeland security office, said Thursday.
It is up to Ridge and Ashcroft to decide whether a change in threat level is warranted. Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson are among a few Justice Department officials who see the daily raw intelligence on terrorism gathered by the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies.
The threat level was elevated from yellow to orange for two weeks in September, to coincide with the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It has remained at yellow since then, but the tense U.S.-Iraq showdown has lawmakers and the Bush administration on guard.
"I think that as we ratchet up toward Iraq, we have to believe that there will be attempts in this country anywhere, perhaps everywhere, to do us harm," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN.
Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller say the nation is far better prepared to detect and stop a terrorist attack than it was prior to Sept. 11, 2001. They say the intelligence sharing among agencies is vastly improved, as well as information about airplane passengers, people who enter through U.S. border crossings and students who lose their status and remain in this country.
Still, it remains a monumental task for analysts to sort through the information.
"One of the most difficult tasks in the intelligence community is segregating the information that may be helpful and useful from the disinformation that's looking to take us down the wrong path," Ridge said. |
