US cites terror threats to financial facilities
Ridge raises alert level for Washington, NYC, Newark
WASHINGTON -- Al Qaeda may be planning to bomb iconic financial institutions in New York City, Washington, and Newark, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned yesterday, citing new and unusually specific information picked up from multiple sources.
Bush to order changes for intelligence-gathering. A4.
Ridge took the unprecedented step of raising the terror-threat level to ''high," signified by the color code orange, only for the areas around the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank buildings in Washington, the
''This is the first time we have chosen to use the Homeland Security Advisory System in such a targeted way," Ridge said. ''Compared to previous threat reporting, these intelligence reports have provided a level of detail that is very specific. The quality of this intelligence, based on multiple reporting streams in multiple locations, is rarely seen and is alarming in both the amount and specificity of the information."
Intelligence gathered over the weekend indicates that the terrorist groups may be planning to use large car or truck bombs to attack the facilities, Ridge told reporters. In a news conference, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly also mentioned the possibility of bombs carried into buildings in bags or backpacks.
Officials said they had received very specific information in the past three days regarding the threat, but they were not able to say when an attack might take place. All of the affected buildings were expected to be open this morning with increased security.
After Ridge spoke, several senior intelligence officials briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. They described the trove of new information about a plot for which planning began prior to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and which has apparently continued since then, as ''chilling in its scope, in its detail, in its breadth."
The new information includes meticulously detailed reconnaissance information about security at specific buildings, including: pedestrian traffic, escape routes, future surveillance points, hospitals and police departments; good places to meet employees, traffic flows, underground parking facility layouts, and proper bomb placement to maximize damage.
New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, however, said there is no way to know when that surveillance took place, suggesting to reporters that it could have been several years ago.
Ridge declined to specify the source of the new intelligence, but did cite counterterrorism partnerships with other countries, singling out Pakistan.
On July 25, Pakistani security forces captured 14 suspected members of Al Qaeda and confiscated several computers. Among the suspects was a high-ranking operative, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who has been indicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Pakistan's interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayyat, said the raid had led to ''some very valuable and useful leads," but did not specify.
Another senior US official with access to intelligence said much of the information is from ''documentary evidence" recently obtained by the CIA in Pakistan. He said the information did not come from Ghailani personally.
Ridge and other top security officials in the Bush administration have repeatedly warned in recent months that intelligence indicates that Al Qaeda may be planning an attack on US soil timed to the presidential election, perhaps by targeting a high-profile public event such as the recently-concluded Democratic National Convention in Boston or the upcoming Republican National Convention in New York. This is the first time, however, that Ridge has raised the color-coded alert level since he lowered it to yellow in January. It is also the first time its raising has been limited to specific places, rather than nationwide.
Locally, officials in Massachusetts encouraged businesses to review their security measures, even though the alert level in Boston was not raised.
''What we want businesses to do is to think about what is in the best interests of their employees, their operations," said Katie Ford, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Public Safety. ''We're going to encourage them to use their judgment." Ford said the state will send letters to area financial institutions, encouraging them to keep security levels as high as they were during the convention.
The Bush administration has come under criticism in the past for issuing the general alerts; critics say the alerts needlessly frighten people and waste law enforcement resources in areas that were not indicated to be potential targets. PJ Crowley, a former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration, praised Ridge for the policy change.
''This is the way the system should function," Crowley said. ''Maybe they had the benefit of more specific information than in the past when they were making the broad-brush announcements, which just ended up eroding the credibility of the alert system. This kind of tailored alert makes a lot more sense. It's to their credit."
He criticized the second half of Ridge's statement, however; Crowley described it as an ''infomercial" for the Bush administration and the Homeland Security Department, as when Ridge said: ''This kind of information is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror. The reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world."
Some Democrats questioned the timing of the announcement yesterday. Ridge's last warning, in early July, interrupted news coverage of Senator John F. Kerry's selection of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as his running mate. The announcement on the alert interrupted postconvention news coverage.
On CNN yesterday, Howard Dean, a former candidate for the Democratic nomination, said: ''Every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism. His whole campaign is based on the notion that 'I can keep you safe; therefore, in times of difficulty for America, stick with me,' and then out comes Tom Ridge. It's just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics."
But Bloomberg, a Republican, said: ''There is nothing political about this. There's hard-and-fast evidence of people doing research on where they might strike, and this is a credible threat."
Crowley said he did not believe that politics played a role in yesterday's warning. ''Here, I think we have to give them the benefit of the doubt," he said. ''They seem to have specific intelligence, and their response seems to be proportional to that threat information."
The Kerry campaign released a statement calling the information ''a very serious development" and vowed that a Kerry administration would ''bring all aspects of our nation's power to crush Al Qaeda and terrorist networks." It also renewed Kerry's call to implement all the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission in its final report, released recently. Speaking last night, before he received a briefing on the threat, Kerry said he would comment on the terror warning today.Ridge said security measures would be different at each facility, given their unique architectures and locations.
''You may expect to see special buffer zones to secure the perimeters of buildings from unauthorized cars and trucks; restrictions to affected underground parking; security personnel using identification badges and digital photos to keep track of people entering and exiting buildings; increased law enforcement presence; and robust screening of vehicles, packages, and deliveries," he said.
Globe staff reporter Glen Johnson contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. 