National terror-threat level lowered
Advertiser Staff and News Services
WASHINGTON — Twenty days after the nation went on high alert for the possibility of a terrorist attack, the Bush administration lowered the threat level yesterday but cautioned that the danger is far from over.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said their decision to reduce the threat level from orange to yellow, or elevated, was based on constantly reviewed intelligence assessments and the addition of new counterterrorism measures.
The end of the Muslim holy period of hajj earlier this month, which some intelligence reports had suggested might mark the start of terrorist attacks, also factored into the deliberations, the Cabinet officers said.
Their decision to raise the threat level to Code Orange on Feb. 7 prompted heightened security around the nation, including the placement of anti-aircraft missile batteries around Washington, D.C., tighter security at airports and other public places, and a range of other safety precautions.
Those precautions included random vehicle checks at Honolulu International Airport.
Now that the level is back to yellow, inspections on the perimeter of Honolulu airport property will be stopped, said Stanford Miyamoto, deputy security director for Honolulu.
Random inspections could be resumed if the alert level rises again, he said.
Ashcroft and Ridge urged Americans to remain "defiant and alert" to the possibility of terrorist attacks.
"The lowering of the threat level is not a signal to government, law enforcement or citizens that the danger of a terrorist attack is passed," they said in a joint statement. "Detained al-Qaida operatives have informed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials that al-Qaida will wait until it believes Americans are less vigilant and less prepared before it will strike again."
With war in Iraq looming, two recently released audiotapes allegedly from Osama bin Laden exhort his followers to launch suicide attacks against U.S. targets.
The threat of suicide bombings is not being discounted, a senior FBI official told reporters yesterday. "I'm somewhat shocked we haven't seen some of that in this country," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
FBI Director Robert Mueller and other top officials have acknowledged that several hundred al-Qaida operatives and other Islamic militants are believed to be living in the United States. The official briefing to reporters yesterday declined to provide a more specific estimate but noted that identification of sleeper cells affiliated with Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida is one of the top priorities outlined in the classified national threat assessment delivered recently to Congress.
