Agence France Presse December 22, 2003
Bush convenes anti-terror security meeting as US goes on higher alert
By Stephanie Griffith
US President George W. Bush met Monday with his top anti-terror advisors, one day after the US government raised its nationwide security level amid concerns of an impending domestic terrorist attack.
Bush convened a meeting of the Homeland Security Council, including officials from the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after the domestic security threat level was raised Sunday from yellow, denoting an "elevated" risk of attack, to orange or "high" risk.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told reporters after the White House meeting that Americans should not cancel holiday travel plans, but he urged all citizens to be vigilant for suspicious behaviour.
"If you've got holiday plans, go," Ridge urged.
"For national security reasons, we're not going to broadcast everthing that we are doing," he said when asked what precautions were being taken to ward off a potential attack.
At Monday's meeting "we reviewed the specific plans and the specific action we have taken and will continue to take," Ridge said.
The Homeland Security Council, charged with protecting the United States against terrorist threats, was created by the White House in October 2001, and consists of representatives from the Defense Department, the Vice President's office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Department, the Treasury Department, and other key agencies.
Ridge and other top officials said the threat of a devastating year-end attack by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was the most serious since the terrorist strikes of September 11, 2001.
In television broadcasts blanketing US airwaves Monday, Ridge said terrorists appeared to be planning an attack on US territory -- as opposed to overseas US interests -- and could attempt to use airplanes to carry out a strike.
That analysis, he said, came after reviewing recent monitored communications or "chatter" among terror groups.
"It seems that more of the comments, more of the observations and expectations from these folks is directed internally to the United States, rather than interests abroad," Ridge told CBS televison early Monday.
Security has been enhanced at the country's airports, border crossings, shopping centers and other sites where large crowds are likely to gather this week for holiday events.
Announcing the move Sunday, Ridge said terrorists hoped to "rival or exceed the scope and impact" of the September 11 attacks, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
Asked where the intelligence tips had originated, Ridge told CNN on Monday: "From many, many sources from around the world."
"Multiple sources, basically saying the same thing, talking about near-term attacks."
"And it's pretty clear that the nation's capital and New York city would be on any list," Ridge warned.
A senior US official said New York, Washington and Los Angeles were priority targets for the terror network and that the Christmas and New Year's holiday season was the time of highest threat.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which specialises in terrorist defense matters, said attacks of the type seen abroad could be launched in the United States.
"Any of those are a possibility now," the terrorism expert explained.
"We have to imagine a possibility of hijacking an executive jet or cargo plane, where the security is not as good as for commercial airplanes, and crashing them into nuclear facilities for instance," Pike said.
The color-coded risk alert system had been at yellow, or "elevated" since May 30. Before that it had been at orange, or "high," for most of the time since its introduction. "High" is the second-most serious of five threat levels in the system.
Ridge told CBS television Monday that concerns of a terror attack had not yet reached the level to justify a code "red" -- the highest level of alert.
"If we simply go to red ... it basically shuts down the country," he said.
"We can't let threats keep us from being America."
The United States unleashed its global "war on terror" in response to the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and has completely upgraded security precautions since then.
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city had not raised its own threat level but had put additional security measures in place.
Although the country remained calm Monday, the effects of Ridge's warnings and the sight of extra national guardsmen and police on duty created some public jitters.
On the New York Stock Exchange, stocks dipped in early trading Monday on the back of terrorist fears, and in response to the government's decision to raise the security threat level.
© Copyright 2003, Agence France Presse
