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| Home Front: WoT |
| Al-Qaeda threat still significant despite no pre-election attacks |
| 2004-11-14 |
| Government counterterror experts say the threat of an attack by al-Qaida remains a significant concern, perhaps even this year, although the nation safely passed the benchmark of the Nov. 2 election. The Homeland Security Department this week lowered the terror alert for the financial sector in New York, Washington and northern New Jersey that was in place for three months. But authorities still caution the possibility of an attack is just as high as it was a month ago. ``The whole notion taking a deep breath and saying, 'Wow, we got past this and now we are OK for a while' is a ... very dangerous train of thought,'' Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy told reporters in a conference call Wednesday. Since April, U.S. authorities have warned of an increased risk of attack to disrupt democracy, often pointing to the now-passed elections. But they remain concerned about the upcoming holidays, the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration and beyond. Loy said the time period does not have a termination date. He said a relaxed posture for financial institutions - from code orange, or heightened, to code yellow, or elevated - came because government and private-sector officials had run drills, improved security and taken other measures to ``harden'' the potential targets. The passing of the election, too, was on the minds of authorities. Now, counterterrorism officials are analyzing why al-Qaida may not have attacked and what may be ahead. Among other efforts, experts in and out of government have been combing through two tapes released by al-Qaida in the two weeks before the election - first by a man calling himself ``Azzam the American'' and another by Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group. In a recent analysis, Ben Venzke, president of the private IntelCenter and a consultant to government counterterrorism agencies, said three bin Laden videos directly addressing Americans - in October of 2002, 2003 and 2004 - were followed between one and 53 days by attacks. Venzke said he didn't know why the videos come annually in October. However, Venzke said he was particularly concerned about an attack directly against U.S. interests now because the new tapes represent ``the most significant effort by al-Qaida to address the American people in the last couple years.'' |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |