Capitol, legislators among named terror targets, US official says
Threats in addition to 5 financial centers cited in Aug. 1 alert
WASHINGTON -- New intelligence gathered overseas indicated that Al Qaeda had set its sights on the US Capitol, in addition to the five financial institutions in Washington, New York, and New Jersey disclosed last week, a White House official said yesterday.
The targeting of the Capitol and members of Congress came up "as part of this continuing threat stream" that led officials to raise the terrorism alert Aug. 1, White House domestic security adviser Frances Townsend said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"There were other targets that we were aware of," she said, adding that intelligence suggests that Al Qaeda "practiced in the training camps for assassinations and kidnappings."
Townsend did not disclose what information investigators have seen about a potential attack against members of Congress. Detailed surveillance reports written in 2001 about the New York Stock Exchange,
Townsend, who assumed her post in May after serving as a White House terrorism adviser, Coast Guard intelligence officer, and federal prosecutor, said investigators found other, less detailed reports on additional terrorist targets as well, though she did not identify them.
She said the intelligence information pouring in to investigators is much better than the chatter picked up in the summer before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"I think it's much more definitive, clearer, and much more detailed. I think it feels sort of more serious, more urgent than it did even then," she said.
The New York Times reported today that Al Qaeda has considered using tourist helicopters to attack New York City. The paper, citing domestic security officials, said helicopter operations will undergo increased security as early as this week.
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CBS that he had been informed of the new threats involving the Capitol and Congress but could not, for security reasons, discuss them.
Biden said he took the information seriously, but was "not impressed by some of the sources," saying they had provided disinformation in the past. He said there was reason for concern but no reason "to be alarmed."
Townsend, also appearing on "Fox News Sunday," said she thought that Al Qaeda intended to launch an attack against the United States before the November election but that she felt investigators had gotten "in front of them" in recent weeks. "And every time we get in front of them, we get additional time to try and disrupt them and deter an attack," she said.
Still, she said, there is reason to worry. "They want something -- and we've seen it in the intelligence -- they want something bigger than 9/11. They want a catastrophic attack," she said. "That takes more planning, more precision, more explosives, more time to put together."
The Aug. 16 issue of Time magazine notes some details about the surveillance. The magazine said the surveillance report about the Prudential Financial headquarters in New Jersey included the suggestion that a limousine be used to carry a bomb. A van or a truck approaching that building might raise questions, it said.
According to Time, the surveillance reports noted that the Citigroup building, "like the World Trade Center, is supported on steel load-bearing walls and on a steel frame" and that the windows behind the six columns on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange made the building appear "a little fragile."
The level of specifics, Townsend told Fox, "was incredibly detailed, incredibly chilling."
