The US remains under threat of more devastating terrorist attacks which could target its capital or other major cities, two lawmakers familiar with national security matters warned.
"I am relatively confident that it is accurate to say that the real estate between the US Capitol and the Pentagon is still a target area," said Congressman Porter Goss, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said late Saturday.
He said Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building outside Washington could be followed by other strikes.
There are "other easy targets, vulnerable targets ... filled with innocent people," Goss, who receives regular intelligence briefings, said.
John McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also warned that the country still faced "a variety of threats ... including missiles and nuclear weapons and biological and chemical warfare."
McCain confirmed late Saturday that a US anti-terrorist strike inside Afghan territory was under consideration.
"I think we may be in and out of that country. That's one of the military options," said the senator.
McCain said the US would try to avoid getting bogged down in Afghanistan like the Soviet Union did in the 1980s.
"In my judgment, it's not a question of if there will be a biological or chemical weapons attacks, but when -- and of what magnitude," said Representative Christopher Shays, who heads the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security.
Attacks involving nuclear weapons were less likely, but remained a possibility, Shays said.
Shays, whose committee has held 17 hearings on terror threats, said the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which may have killed over 5,000 people, underscored the need to step up efforts to combat terrorism.
"The bottom line is, a chemical, biological or nuclear attack by a terrorist is a very real possibility," Shays said. "It sends shivers down your back."
A group of independent experts, headed by former senators Warren Rudman and Gary Hart, have released three reports over the past three years identifying terrorism as the most urgent national security issue facing the US.
The group's third and final report, released in January, recommended creation of a National Homeland Security Agency -- with a seat on the Cabinet -- and an overhaul of national security priorities.
Recognizing the seriousness of the bioterrorism threat, the US is producing small amounts of chemical and biological warfare agents, including one for a deadly new form of anthrax, in order to develop protection against them.
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