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Terror alert triggers new precautions
Wed May 21 15:38:45 2003
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Terror alert triggers new precautions
http://www.msnbc.com/news/915819.asp?0cv=CA01&cp1=1

WASHINGTON, May 21 — Police working longer shifts, more National Guard troops deployed in public areas and a ban on aircraft over stadiums were just some of the signs Wednesday of the nation’s heightened state of alert. While insisting that no specific threat had been picked up, White House officials raised the threat level a notch Tuesday and urged communities to take precautions, particularly at large public gatherings.

THE FOCUS is on a new al-Qaida attack, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that the United States is certain some al-Qaida leaders are in Iran plotting attacks.
“There’s no question but that there have been and are today senior al-Qaida leaders in Iran, and they are busy,” Rumsfeld told reporters.
Earlier Wednesday, an audio recording purportedly from Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, urged Muslims to imitate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with new strikes on the United States and its allies in the war on Iraq.
“Oh Muslims, take your decision against the embassies of America, England, Australia and Norway, their interests, their companies and their employees,” said the voice on the recording, aired by the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera.
Britain was the United States’ main partner in the war on Iraq; Australia also contributed troops. Norway did not take part in the fighting, but America considers Norway a good friend and ally, and the Norwegian prime minister said recently he will work on asking France to be more flexible with U.S. demands on postwar Iraq.

TRAVEL DISRUPTIONS
Under the heightened terror alert status in the United States, travelers can expect random car checks and restricted parking near airport terminal buildings, as well as more uniformed police on trains and subway cars.
Other heightened security measures will be less immediately visible, officials said, among them stepped-up Coast Guard harbor patrols and tighter security patrols at sensitive installations like nuclear power plants.
In announcing the new terror assessment, Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security in the Department of Homeland Security, made a point of citing gatherings of large crowds as a cause of particular concern. Memorial Day, a holiday traditionally marked with large outdoor celebrations, is Monday, and AAA predicted that as many as 35 million Americans would be on the road over the holiday weekend.
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The Federal Aviation Administration reimposed some restrictions on flights, including those of planes and blimps over sporting events. Officials said the FAA was likely to issue a specific ban on flights over the Indianapolis 500 auto race, where 200,000 spectators were expected to congregate Sunday.
U.S. military officials told NBC News that combat air patrols by fighter jets and other aircraft over major cities will begin increasing as early as Wednesday.
The military continues to post about 300 troops armed with Avenger surface-to-air missile systems and shoulder-fired FIM 92 Stinger missiles in the Washington area.
In New York, traditionally the scene of some of the largest Memorial Day celebrations, police began raising their security measures immediately.
“We’ll have additional bridge and tunnel checks,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. “We’re working with our partners in the port authority and the [transit authority] to do that.”
In a scene likely to be repeated on major highways across the country in the coming week, the California Highway Patrol began searching big trucks at the Port of San Francisco.

‘TARGETS IN THE UNITED STATES’
Hutchinson told reporters that the alert level was raised because “the United States intelligence community believes that terrorists continue to plan attacks against targets in the United States.”
The announcement echoed an alert the FBI issued last week to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country. U.S. officials told NBC News that the alert warned specifically that bin Laden’s terrorist network, which was blamed for two recent deadly suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, could mount new attacks within U.S. borders.

May 20 — Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson announces the heightened terror alert.


Senior officials told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell that some intelligence analysts believed that the attack May 12 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, was intended to distract U.S. authorities from paying attention to imminent threats inside the United States.
The Saudi bombings killed 25 people, including eight Americans, as well as nine of the bombers.
The officials said al-Qaida operatives left Saudi Arabia before the Riyadh attacks and were at large, which they described as a typical al-Qaida method of operation. They said a particularly active cell had been uncovered in Kenya.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, voiced those fears Monday, telling reporters during a trip to the kingdom that “there is chatter, a high level of chatter.”
“My gut feeling tells me something big is going to happen here or in America,” he said.
In a related development, the United States, Britain and Germany decided Tuesday to shut their embassies and some consular offices in Saudi Arabia for a few days, citing “credible information” that further terrorist strikes were being planned.

TIP FROM SAUDI SUSPECT
A senior U.S. official told NBC News that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other national security officials outlined the new information Tuesday for President Bush, who accepted their recommendation to raise the terror alert level to orange, only one step below the highest level, red. It had been at yellow, or “elevated,” since April 16.
“The U.S. intelligence community believes that al-Qaida has entered an operational period worldwide, and this may include attacks in the United States,” Ridge told reporters Tuesday.
A department official told NBC News that one reason for the increased concern was that at least one suspect arrested after the Saudi bombings told interrogators that there was a plan to attack the United States. However, the suspect provided no details, the official said.
Hutchinson acknowledged a reporter’s supposition that car bombings might be a particular threat, saying, “We obviously have to look at what they have done most recently in overseas bombings.”
But he said authorities were also on the lookout for attacks by suicide bombers or assailants using small arms.

fact file
What is ‘homeland security’?
President Bush has given former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge the job of managing the government's efforts to deter and respond to terrorist attacks. "Homeland security" — protecting Americans on U.S. soil — is a complex mission requiring the coordinated work of dozens of federal, state and local agencies.

TRACKING TERRORIST SUSPECTS

* State Department: Screen visa applications, check against list of known terrorists.
* CIA: Spy on terrorist suspects abroad.
* FBI: Spy on terrorist suspects within the United States.
* Immigration and Naturalization Service: Deport foreigners who overstay visas; detain those who pose security risks.

GUARDING INFRASTRUCTURE AND PEOPLE

* Air Force: Shoot down hijacked commercial flights aimed at ground targets.
* National Guard: Help screen passengers at airports.
* Coast Guard: Screen vessels entering U.S. ports, inspect cargo manifests and crew lists.
* Agriculture Department: Inspect meat and crops to detect disease outbreaks.
* Private sector: Owners of oil and gas pipelines and power facilities provide guards and surveillance.

FIRST RESPONDERS

Emergency medical technicians, hospital ER doctors and nurses: Treat victims of terror attacks.

MAINTAINING ORDER

* Police and National Guard: Enforce quarantines, deter looting, evacuate population.
* Army units: President can impose martial law and order Army to quell rioting, enforce quarantines.

DIAGNOSING EPIDEMICS

* Federal Centers for Disease Control: Deploy response teams to investigate suspicious illnesses;conduct lab tests to identify biological and chemical weapons; maintain stockpile of pharmaceuticals to treat victims.
* State public health departments: Investigate suspicious disease clusters.

INVESTIGATING AND PROSECUTING

* FBI: Gather evidence for criminal cases.
* Justice Department: Prosecute those who aid and abet terrorists.

REBUILDING AND DECONTAMINATING

* Federal Emergency Management Agency: Provide grants for temporary housing or emergency repair; mortgage and rental assistance; disaster unemployment assistance.
* Environmental Protection Agency: Analyze air, soil and water for the presence of pollutants.

RESTORING FINANCIAL STABILITY

* Congress: May provide subsidies for affected sectors of economy, such as insurance industry.
* State and federal unemployment funds: May provide jobless benefits beyond 26-week maximum.


Source: MSNBC research


‘SOFT TARGETS’ CITED
The FBI, in its alert last week, told law enforcement agencies that the truck bombings in Saudi Arabia “indicate that the al-Qaida network remains active and highly capable.”
“The U.S. intelligence community assesses that attacks against U.S. and Western targets overseas are likely; attacks in the United States cannot be ruled out,” said the bulletin.

• How the U.S. government responds to a crisis


The bulletin said the Saudi attacks featured “traditional hallmarks of al-Qaida operations,” such as precise planning, surveillance and coordination among several teams. Each bombing involved a sedan followed by a truck or a sport utility vehicle laden with explosives, with gunmen used to attack guards and overcome security measures.
The tactics showed that al-Qaida had “a highly refined approach to suicide bombings” that showed an increased capability when compared, for example, with the 1998 truck bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The FBI alert said the attacks also showed that al-Qaida appeared to be adapting its target list to so-called “soft targets” that were more lightly guarded than government or military installations.
“These attacks suggest that al-Qaida may be deterred by enhancing security and changes in the security countermeasures adopted by potential targets,” the bulletin said.
The FBI has warned before that terrorists could strike apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants and businesses.
Similar attacks blamed on al-Qaida include the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub district in Bali, Indonesia, that killed almost 200 people, and the suicide bombings of an Israeli-owned beach hotel in Kenya, which killed 12 people. In the Kenya attack, two missiles narrowly missed an airliner carrying Israeli vacationers.
Officials told NBC News that intelligence analysts were not yet sure how the bombings Friday night in Casablanca, Morocco, which killed 41 people, fit into al-Qaida’s game plan. They said they believed the Morocco bombers were locals with al-Qaida links, but it was not clear that they were under central command and control.

NBC’s Pete Williams and Tammy Kupperman in Washington and Robert Windrem and Jay Blackman in New York, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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