Officials say no indication of terrorism in shuttle loss

By Ron Fournier
Associated Press White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON — There was no indication that terrorism was behind the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, administration officials said today. With the flag atop the White House at half staff, President Bush hastily returned to the White House from his Camp David retreat to deal with the tragedy.

He was expected to address the nation.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity said debris from the shuttle had been positively identified. Though there was no official word from NASA yet, the official said there was no hope for either the shuttle or its crew.

"It's gone," he said. NASA planned to confirm the shuttles loss and the deaths of crewmembers later today, several U.S. officials said.

With dozens of agencies called into emergency weekend duty, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge coordinated the government response. He contacted officials in five states, including Texas, where officials said debris from the shuttle may be found.

Under an executive order signed recently by Bush, Ridge is the coordinator of all domestic incidents of this magnitude, even when terrorism is not suspected.

Ridge immediately contacted NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, Mike Brown of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and officials at the military's Northern Command. He determined that FEMA, which becomes part of his department March 1, would be the lead agency for response and recovery.

The U.S. Northern Command will offer assistance. It was created by the Defense Department after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks solely to defend U.S. territory

Ridge called officials in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana and Oklahoma to warn them about possible debris, although officials said Arizona and New Mexico are expected to be outside the debris zone.

Bush was briefed at Camp David on the shuttle loss and then decided to return to Washington to monitor developments. "We are awaiting more information from NASA at this point," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

After making the 90-minute drive from the Maryland's Catoctin Mountains, the president stepped out of a sports utility vehicle and strode to the Oval Office in a cold drizzle. Later he went to the White House residence with chief of staff Andrew Card.

"There is no information at this time that this was a terrorist incident," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. "Obviously the investigation is just beginning, but that is the information we have now."

FBI spokeswoman Angela Bell also said there was no indication of terrorism. She said the FBI would have a tangential role in the investigation, mainly assisting in evidence recovery.

Another official said no threat had been received against the flight, and the shuttle, at an altitude of about 203,000 feet over north-central Texas when it lost contact, was out of range of surface-to-air missiles.

A senior law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been some intelligence that raised concerns about a previously scheduled flight of Columbia, which was to have carried the same crew. The intelligence, related to Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, was termed not credible, but the flight was postponed for other reasons. There had been no troubling intelligence regarding this flight, officials said.

McClellan said Card talked to the NASA director Sean O'Keefe "very soon" after the shuttle was lost, which was about 9 a.m. EST. Bush talked to O'Keefe shortly after that.

O'Keefe was meeting in Florida with the astronauts' families, an agency spokeswoman said.

Vice President Dick Cheney was briefed this morning in Texas, where he was spending the weekend hunting, said spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise. She said he was following the television coverage. Millerwise would not say where Cheney was staying, but said it was not in the part of Texas area where the shuttle was lost.

Other senior officials informed were national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On a normally slow day, White House officials were scrambling to get into the office.

"We're all watching TV and devastated and concerned," said John Marburger, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.