The US Department of Homeland Security has often been accused of crying wolf for raising the alert after overhearing"chatter" on the terrorist grapevine.
This time, however, the US authorities really believe they have caught a rare glimpse of the wolf at work -- an al-Qaeda operation in preparation.
The high alert sounded at financial institutions in New York, New Jersey or Washington was the most specific to date, and it marks the first time this year that the color-coded alert status has been raised to orange (high).
Warning is specific
It is also the first time that the homeland security department has named specific buildings as possible al-Qaeda targets.
The warning is based on the blueprint of a proposed operation found on an al-Qaeda computer belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian-born terrorist suspect arrested in Pakistan last week.
Even more important is the evidence provided by the al-Qaeda computer expert and web manager, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who led investigators to Ghailani.
The computer files pointed to an extensive and meticulous plan to attack a financial target, such as the World Bank, the Citigroup headquarters in New York, or the Prudential Financial building in Newark.
Al-Qaeda operatives had clearly scouted out those buildings, gaining access to upper floors by posing as couriers and delivery men. Ways in and out had been mapped, and the number of potential casualties assessed.
"It is a treasure trove," a US intelligence official said on Sunday. "It provides an incredible level of detail regarding potential targets."
However, there were no clues about the timing of the attacks. Workers at the buildings mentioned on the al-Qaeda files were told to go to work as normal, with instructions only to be concerned.
Tom Ridge, the US homeland security chief, suggested that for "the workers going to work today, there are very anxious moments."
Meanwhile, one tunnel leading into New York was closed to lorries, while police in New York, Newark and Washington were supposed to be stopping cars and lorries near the would-be targets, questioning drivers, and in some cases searching vehicles.
Critics of the measures argued they did more to raise anxiety than to provide real security against attack. Larry Thompson, a former CIA and state department counter-terrorist official, accused the administration of perpetuating "a cry wolf phenomenon".
He added: "You're showing the terrorists that if they make enough of a specific threat, they can shut down a city."
Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and outspoken Democrat, suggested that the alert was a political ploy by the Bush administration.
Criticism
"I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President [George W.] Bush he plays his trump card, which is terrorism," he told CNN. "It is just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics."
However, Senator John Kerry, the Democratic party presidential candidate, who was briefed on his campaign bus, disowned Dean's remarks, saying: "I believe you take these threats seriously. I think people of good conscience are working on these issues."
Given the specificity of the al-Qaeda plans uncovered in Pakistan, there was never any question that an alert would be raised.
US intelligence has just emerged from a televised grilling for its failure to spot the warning signs of the Sept. 11 attack. It is not about to repeat the mistake.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,