US Raises Terror Threat Level Amid Warnings of Possible Attacks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 21, 2003

US Raises Terror Threat Level Amid Warnings of Possible Attacks

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The US government raised the country's terror threat status Tuesday to the second-highest level due to increased "chatter" suggesting terrorists may be planning amajor attack inside the United States, US officials said.

The decision to raise the alert level to orange of the five-color assessment system from yellow, the middle level, was made during a specially arranged meeting of President George W. Bush's Homeland Security Council, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Bush signed off on it after a briefing.

The move came amid increased intelligence indicating al-Qaeda is regrouping for a possible attack in the United States and overseas. Local television reports quoted senior US officials as saying that the "chatter" suggests a major attack inside the United States may be in the works.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a bulletin to state and local law enforcement last week, warning that the US intelligence community assessed that attacks against US and Western targets overseas "are likely" and attacks in the United States "cannot be ruled out."

It sent another version of the bulletin earlier Tuesday, sayingthe recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco "maybe the prelude to an attack in the United States."

At least 34 people, including eight Americans, were killed in the bombings on three Saudi housing compounds in Riyadh on May 12.Another 42 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks Friday in Casablanca, Morocco.

The FBI said the attacks featured "traditional hallmarks of al-Qaeda operations" and indicated that "the al-Qaeda network remainsactive and highly capable."

Appearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill to discuss US preparedness for terrorist attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the United States is "significantly safer than we were 20 months ago."

"We are safer because as a nation we are most aware of the threat of terrorism and much more vigilant in confronting it," Ridge told the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Orange, meaning a "high" risk of terrorist attack, is a level only lower than Red, which represents a "severe" risk. Yellow means a "significant" or "elevated" risk.

This was the fourth time that the US government has raised the threat level from yellow to orange since the color-coded system was adopted about 14 months ago. The most recent was on March 17, two days before the United States launched the war against Iraq.

The alert was lowered back to yellow one month later.

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