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Canada says tip-off led to US attorney general's warning

A Canadian intelligence agency tip-off helped lead to US Attorney General John Ashcroft's warning on Monday of possible new terrorist attacks in the US, Lawrence MacAulay, the Canadian solicitor general, said on Tuesday.

MacAulay, responsible for the country's law enforcement, said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had passed key information on to the US FBI.

"I have information that CSIS has given me, and they have also shared information with the FBI, which led Mr. Ashcroft to make the statement he made yesterday," MacAulay said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Jean Chretien told parliament that Canada itself was under no direct threat.

"We are on an alert basis all the time because there is always a danger, but there is no specific threat against Canadians at this moment," Chretien said.

Ashcroft said on Monday that he had "credible" information "that there may be additional terrorist attacks within the US and against US interests over the next week."

Neither the US administration nor MacAulay gave details on the nature of the information or threat.

It was also not clear where the information came from. CBC television had at first reported an official in MacAulay's department as saying CSIS had obtained the intelligence outside Canada. But MacAulay spokesman Dan Brien said he had told CBC he could not say whether it was from outside or not.

The US Justice Department spokeswoman, Susan Dryden, commented: "We rely upon information from a number of sources and friendly countries, and that certainly includes Canada."

Brien also said Canada was not saying it was the only source of the information that led to Ashcroft's decision. "We can't say it was necessarily the only information they got."

In parliament, MacAulay declared that Canada remained "one of the safest countries in the world."

But he also made a rare government admission: "Let there be no illusions. There are people in this country who belong to terrorist groups."

None of the 19 hijackers named by the US as having conducted the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has been shown to have originated in Canada.

Yet a number of people with Canadian links have been arrested on both sides of the border, either for questioning in connection with the attacks or on suspicion of links to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the strikes.

The Canadian government has had to fight an image both at home and in the US that it is soft on crime and has a porous border, and it is eager to demonstrate its contribution to the US-led war on terrorism.

MacAulay said CSIS and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police worked very closely with the FBI.
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