"Homeland Security" is leaking like a sieve. Probably on purpose. But it worries me.
Source gave U.S. details of new plot
By Toni Locy, Kevin Johnson, Mimi Hall and John Diamond, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The nation's recent Code Orange terror alert was triggered by a new U.S. intelligence source that, for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, allowed officials to get specifics about how al-Qaeda was planning to use international flights for imminent attacks in the USA, four top government officials say.
Beginning Dec. 5, the intelligence source revealed that al-Qaeda might use explosives on two Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve, according to the officials, who are familiar with the government's counterterrorism, intelligence and law enforcement efforts during the alert.
U.S. counterterrorism and intelligence officials are cryptic about the new source, whose identity is a closely guarded secret. They will not describe it as "human intel," and suggest that the information came from high-tech surveillance. Such electronic monitoring could involve intercepted e-mails or other communications of a possibly unsuspecting al-Qaeda operative.
INCIDENTS SURROUNDING CODE ORANGE
The recent Code Orange terrorism alert reflected what U.S. officials called the most significant threat to the nation since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The developments surrounding the alert:
Dec. 5: A new U.S. intelligence source identifies Air France Flights 68 and 70 as possible targets on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. It was the first time since 9/11 that authorities believe they obtained specific details of attacks being planned by al-Qaeda, including flight numbers and dates.
Dec. 5-19: U.S. government receives more information from the new source about AeroMexico Flight 490, from Mexico City to Los Angeles; Air France Flight 5, from Newark, N.J., to Paris; and Air France Flight 1, which authorities believe might have referred to the airline's discontinued Concorde flights - or perhaps the president's jet, Air Force One. The new source also refers to Las Vegas and "12/31." Separate intelligence suggests possible threats to Houston; Valdez, Alaska; Belgium; Saudi Arabia; and Tappahannock,Va. The locations include major oil and power facilities.
Dec. 21: Nationwide alert level is elevated to Code Orange, indicating a "high" risk of attack, for the fifth time since the system was created in March 2002.
Dec. 23: In Washington, representatives of the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and the National Security Council meet via teleconference at 9:30 p.m. The agencies develop a strategy for scrutinizing flight manifests and analyzing possible U.S. targets.
Early Dec. 24: Security fears prompt the cancellation of Air France Flights 68, 69 and 70, all traveling between Paris and Los Angeles.
Dec. 25: Three more Air France flights on the same route (68, 69 and 71) are canceled.
Dec. 29: U.S. issues emergency directive requiring foreign governments to put armed air marshals on certain international flights to the USA when intelligence suggests the flights might be at risk.
Dec. 31: Based on information from the new intelligence source, U.S. authorities question passengers on British Airways Flight 223 after it arrives at Washington Dulles International Airport from London. AeroMexico Flight 490, from Mexico City to Los Angeles, is canceled.
Jan. 1: British Airways Flights 222 and 223 between London and Washington are canceled, as is AeroMexico Flight 490. British Airways Flight 216, from Washington to London, is delayed by extra screening of passengers. Air France Flight 3112 between New York and Paris is diverted to Canada so its luggage can be checked.
Jan. 2-5: Three British Airways flights between London and Washington and London and Riyadh are canceled.
Friday: U.S. officials lower the alert level to Code Yellow, indicating an "elevated" risk. . Extra security remains at some airports, ports and power plants, as well as in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.
Sources: USA TODAY research and wire reports
The new source also revealed that Las Vegas was a target on "12/31," and that up to three other international flights could be blown up or hijacked and crashed into U.S. buildings by al-Qaeda operatives.
That information, combined with less specific reports from other intelligence sources that suggested Osama bin Laden's terrorist network would try to attack oil and nuclear facilities, led top Bush administration officials to raise the nationwide terrorism alert on Dec. 21.
Throughout the alert — which ended Friday — Americans were told little about the root of the government's fears, which led to the cancellation of more than a dozen international flights and to the United States' controversial requests for foreign airlines to put armed marshals on some jets. But interviews with the top intelligence and counterterrorism officials reveal how information from the new intelligence source set off alarms through the U.S. government, and sparked a frantic scramble to beef up security and investigate passengers on foreign flights.
The development of the new source was a breakthrough for U.S. intelligence because the source continues to provide "tactical" information about al-Qaeda, the officials say. In counterterrorism and intelligence parlance, that means U.S. authorities believe they now are getting specific information about possible targets, not just general, "strategic" information about al-Qaeda's desire to hit symbols of American political and economic power.
Figuring that the information might be part of an al-Qaeda campaign to mislead U.S. investigators, intelligence officials early last month quietly began trying to assess the new source's credibility.
As they worked, alarming information kept coming in, the government officials say. From Dec. 5 to Dec. 19 the new source revealed potential threats to two more Air France flights and an AeroMexico flight.
Two foreign sources, who had been reliable in the past, also provided U.S. officials with more general information that al-Qaeda was plotting attacks in Valdez, Alaska; Houston and Galveston, Texas; Tappahannock, Va.; Belgium and Saudi Arabia. U.S. authorities concluded that terrorists might be targeting oil pipelines, refineries and nuclear power plants in or near those areas.
At the same time, rhetoric on radical jihadist Web sites on the Internet was escalating. Some Web sites predicted that as many as 100,000 Americans would die in an attack by bin Laden's followers between mid-November and early February.
The sites also urged Muslims in New York, Washington and Los Angeles to leave town for the holidays. One counterterrorism official says that although the Web sites tend to contain more bluster than fact, U.S. intelligence agencies became concerned about the "crescendo about mass casualties" on the Internet.
By Dec. 19, the information from the three intelligence fronts had given counterterrorism analysts the most compelling evidence they had seen that al-Qaeda was about to launch another attack on U.S. soil.
Across the nation, federal intelligence and local law enforcement officers worked frantically to cross-check often incomplete international passenger manifests against voluminous terrorism databases before dozens of foreign flights were "wheels up," as one government official says.
During the alert, the U.S. government checked the names of more than 14,000 people against its terrorism databases out of concern that al-Qaeda might switch targets and hijack return flights from the USA to Europe. Government agents also examined the names of foreign visitors whose final destination was Las Vegas. And the Department of Homeland Security put "sea marshals" aboard ships to stand next to the skippers to make sure that they didn't deliberately crash as they entered U.S. ports in Alaska, government officials say.
"Since 9/11, the strategic information always has been there that al-Qaeda wants to hurt us," a top counterterrorism official says. "This time, in addition to that, there was specific intel from what we describe and believe to be a credible source."
New source disclosed to few
Until mid-December, the new source was known only to a few top U.S. intelligence officials because the agency that had developed the information was trying to assess the source's reliability, the government officials say. But by Dec. 19, the officials say, the hints of imminent terrorist attacks had become so alarming that other agencies were told about the source.
Two days later, top U.S. officials put aside concerns about how cash-strapped cities and states would be affected by the federal government's raising of the terror alert level for a fifth time since the color-coded system began in March 2002. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge raised the alert level from yellow — indicating an "elevated" risk of an attack — to orange, indicating a "high" risk of an attack.
No attacks occurred, but the government officials say they continue to believe that the new intelligence source is credible. As of Thursday, the source had provided information on a total of eight international flights, officials say. The nation's aviation industry and its ports remain on high alert because U.S. intelligence continues to pick up such threat information.
When the nation was at Code Orange, U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism analysts began wondering whether the information from the new source was in code.
That possibility raised a range of questions: Might al-Qaeda strike a day early or a day late from the dates mentioned by the source? Would the group target return flights from the USA to Europe? Would it make sense for terrorists to seize control of a jet that was about to land in the USA after it had used most of its fuel flying from Europe? Or might terrorists hijack and crash a jet just after it took off from a U.S. city with a full fuel tank, so there would be a more devastating explosion?
And what might be hijackers' ultimate target? U.S. authorities mapped out the paths of the flights cited by the new source, searching for clues to potential targets on the ground within a 200-mile swath.
Thinking that al-Qaeda might strike earlier than the dates mentioned by the intelligence source, the CIA checked out the names of passengers on Air France Flight 68, which was scheduled to leave Paris for Los Angeles at 7:35 a.m. (ET) Dec. 24, or 1:35 p.m. Paris time.
Working off an incomplete, advance flight manifest, the CIA identified four passengers whose names were similar or identical to those of suspected terrorists. The suspicious names included those of a Tunisian who allegedly tried to hijack an Israeli jet in the 1970s and a Taliban fighter who had escaped from a prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Eventually, all four passengers were determined not to be the suspected terrorists.
Of the 14,000 names that were examined during the alert, there were 300 such "hits," the counterterrorism official says. None turned out to be a terrorist, the official says.
For U.S. intelligence, counterterrorism and military officials, the most frightening part of the 20-day alert began at 9:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 23, about 10 hours before Air France Flight 68's scheduled departure on Christmas Eve.
Air France eventually canceled the flight. But the night before, U.S. officials were assuming it would take off as scheduled. From their agencies' command posts in Washington, they were in constant contact with one another in a series of video teleconferences. They also worked closely with the French government to try to make sure that there was thorough screening of checked luggage, carry-on bags and cargo, the U.S. government officials say.
Vegas emerges as target
During the first teleconference, U.S. officials also began discussing the idea of putting armed sky marshals on the targeted flights. British pilots criticized the United States for issuing an emergency directive six days later that required foreign governments to place air marshals on flights to the USA that might be targeted by terrorists. U.S. officials say air marshals were assigned to some of the targeted flights. Fighter jets also escorted some of those flights in U.S. airspace.
An ongoing concern among U.S. officials is that an al-Qaeda operative with a "clean" passport and no previously known ties to terrorism could elude the dragnet.
The Christmas Eve Flight 68 was U.S. officials' best chance at catching a terrorist because no one knew that international flights were being screened.
"That was not the day the source reported; Christmas Day was," the counterterrorism source says. "But did we dissuade somebody? Maybe."
As Christmas Day passed without an attack, U.S. authorities could find no evidence that groups of Muslims were leaving New York, Washington or Los Angeles, three cities that have long been targeted by al-Qaeda. So U.S. counterterrorism and intelligence officials turned their attention to New Year's Eve and the threats to energy facilities and Las Vegas.
In Texas, the Department of Homeland Security restricted access to 134 energy facilities. The department urged nuclear power plants across the country — including one near Lake Anna, Va., which is 74 miles west of Tappahannock — to increase security.
Known as "Sin City," Las Vegas is a natural target for extremist groups such as al-Qaeda, which is critical of American attitudes toward sexuality. Las Vegas' Strip also hosts one of the nation's largest New Year's Eve celebrations. And, it is in the flight path of Air France flights to Los Angeles.
U.S. officials say they also considered scenarios in which mass casualties could occur — as the radical jihadist Web sites had warned — and concluded that al-Qaeda could try to use a biological or chemical agent or a device such as a radioactive "dirty bomb" in Las Vegas.
'It was a full-court press'
Several hundred FBI agents and local police were dispatched to examine lists of Las Vegas hotel guests and employees for anyone with links to terrorism. Nevada State Police monitored truck traffic going into the city. Agents ran the names of people who had rented cars against terrorism databases. And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent teams who carried sophisticated radiation detectors to Las Vegas and New York.
"It was a full-court press," the counterterrorism official says.
U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials say they put stock in the latest threat tips in part because they believe that al-Qaeda, after a period of considering relatively small attacks in the USA, now wants to pull off one that could eclipse the hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Despite increased security in airports, bin Laden's followers still want to use jets to inflict economic and psychological damage on the United States. Al-Qaeda is so obsessed with U.S. aviation that its operatives keep track of airline bankruptcies, U.S. officials say.
"Despite the millions and billions of dollars that the international community has spent to increase aviation security," the counterterrorism official says. "They would like to be able to pull it off again."
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