US feared 9/11 hit in Boston, book says

WASHINGTON -- On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, top officials in the White House situation room expressed an almost immediate fear of an attack on Boston through the Liquefied Natural Gas port in Everett, warning the Coast Guard that Boston Harbor may be an Al Qaeda target, according to the former White House terrorism chief who coordinated the government's response to the attacks.

Richard A. Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar, declares in his new book, "Against All Enemies," that "After the Millennium Terrorist Alert we had learned that Al Qaeda operatives had been infiltrating Boston by coming in on liquid natural gas tankers from Algeria."

Clarke did not respond to messages to elaborate on his claim.

US intelligence officials could not confirm last night that Al Qaeda operatives had been identified on the tankers, but an administration official said stowaways had been taken off tankers from Algeria in Boston in the past.

In addition, Massachusetts Director of Public Safety Ed Flynn said the Coast Guard barred Algerian tankers from entering Boston after Sept. 11, 2001, but that he's never gotten a full explanation for the decision. "I have not been able to confirm that account with anybody," Flynn said. "I can say, however, that there have been no Algerian ships in the Port of Boston since 9/11."

Also since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Coast Guard and Immigration officials board every LNG tanker before it enters the port and they inspect the papers of every crew member, said Brian Roehrkasse, US Department of Homeland Security spokesman.

"There have been significant enhancements in security made in and around our ports," he said. "We have expanded our borders to begin checking cargo that is loaded on ships in foreign ports."

Julie Vitek, spokeswoman for DistriGas, the company that operates the LNG port, said about the possibility of Al Qaeda operatives entering Boston on tankers, "We have no reason to believe there is any truth to that assertion."

She added: "We have not had an LNG vessel from Algeria call on the Port of Boston since before 9/11. We currently receive all of our shipments from Trinidad, and Coast Guard officials have visited the export facility in Trinidad several times and have found the security there to be excellent."

The declaration that Al Qaeda operatives may have been identified on the LNG tankers caught local officials including Mayor Thomas M. Menino and US Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden, by surprise. Markey said that the federal government had specifically denied receiving any "credible threats" against the LNG port, which is in his district. "If this is true, it appears to me they [the Bush administration] did not provide all the information it had to me," Markey said. "If they know that Al Qaeda from Algeria has been on those tankers, what on earth would they consider a credible threat?"

Menino's spokesman, Seth Gitell, noted that the mayor went to court to block the tankers from coming through Boston Harbor. Menino succeeded in getting unusual precautions taken for each delivery, including suspension of flights at Logan Airport as the tankers pass through the harbor.

The Everett site is the only LNG port in an urban area, and residents have long expressed fears it could be a terrorist target.

"This account reinforces what Mayor Menino has been saying, which is that these LNG tankers are dangerous and there ought to be another way to bring this kind of fuel into Boston," Gitell said.

In his book, Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar, details a conversation on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, with Admiral James M. Loy, commandant of the Coast Guard, on a secure video link in the White House situation room. The conversation occurred soon after Clarke learned that one of the hijacked planes had crashed in Pennsylvania.

"Dick, we have a dozen cutters steaming at flank speed to New York," Loy reportedly told Clarke. "What else can we do to help?"

"Jim, you have a Captain of the Port in every harbor, right?" Clarke said he responded.

Loy nodded.

"Can they close the harbors?" Clarke said he asked. "I don't want anything leaving until we know what's on them. And I don't want anything coming in and blowing up, like the LNG in Boston."

"I have that authority," Loy responded. Turning to an admiral next to him, he added: "And I have just exercised it."

In the book, Clarke refers to the discovery of what looked like Al Qaeda cells in Boston and New York, based on information from Canadian authorities during the investigation into the millenium threat. Clarke is apparently referring to an alleged Al Qaeda cell that was operated by two former Boston cab drivers, now in prison overseas, that was reported by the Globe in October, 2001.

Wrote Clarke: "For anyone who doubted it before, the Boston cab driver, the Los Angeles airport, the Brooklyn connection, the Montreal cell all said one thing: They're here."

A potential terrorist threat to US ports is among the biggest concerns of counterterrorism officials. A CIA report last year concluded that the United States is more likely to be attacked with a weapon of mass destruction smuggled aboard a ship than delivered by a missile.

Security officials stress that the shipments are much more secure than they were before Sept. 11 because of security enhancements by federal, state, and local officials and the private sector.

Still, others say that more should be done prevent a potential catastrophe. Last month, some Massachusetts Democrats, including Markey and Senator John F. Kerry, urged Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge to raise the terrorist threat level from elevated to high in Boston and Everett when weekly LNG tankers enter the port to be offloaded. "The Everett LNG facility should be considered a critical asset that warrants enhanced protective measures consistent with those implemented when the threat level was elevated to Orange in December 2003," Kerry and Markey wrote.

Markey said yesterday that the department has not yet responded to the letter.