"U.S. warns of potential for a `creative and imaginative' attack"

Saturday, February 8, 2003

U.S. warns of potential for a `creative and imaginative' attack
By MARTIN MERZER and JAMES KUHNHENN
The Kansas City (MO) Star 

 
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials elevated the national terrorism alert to the
second-highest level Friday and warned of possible al-Qaida attacks on a
range of potential targets.

Responding to the alert, Kansas City International Airport authorities began
inspecting vehicles that entered the terminal parking garages, and security
was increased at federal facilities in the Kansas City area.

Bush administration officials said a torrent of terrorist activity around
the world suggested that surviving cells of Osama bin Laden's network could
attack Americans by the end of next week.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, who announced the heightened alert, said
that Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders "have emphasized planning
for attacks on apartment buildings, hotels and other soft or lightly secured
targets in the United States."

Also at risk, he said, were economic targets and other "symbols of American
power" and prestige. That was thought to be a reference to stock exchanges,
the U.S. Capitol, the White House and similar institutions.

Intelligence agencies have intercepted more al-Qaida e-mails, phone calls
and other communications than at any time since just before the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, officials said.

Much of the information has been corroborated by secret agents, they said.

Intelligence officials told Knight Ridder Newspapers that two independent
"armies" of al-Qaida operatives, an estimated 31 persons in all, could be at
large in the United States and Canada, plotting to exploit the Iraqi crisis
through a "creative and imaginative" attack.

Homeland security

Kansas City International Airport officials declined to comment about
specific security measures, beyond the inspection of vehicles entering the
parking garages.

"The Transportation Security Administration has an action plan for each
terror alert level," said KCI spokesman Tom McKenna. "We will do everything
to support them in implementing all aspects of that plan."

Richard Curasi, the Transportation Security Administration's director at
KCI, said police patrols are being increased. He declined to be specific
about how much they are being beefed up.

There are no changes to the security checkpoints and baggage checks, he
said, because the baggage and passenger screening has been at a heightened
security alert.

The agency also is working with the airlines to make sure their planes and
facilities are secure, Curasi said.

The airport began vehicle inspections at the parking garages after the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Officials ended such inspections Jan. 6 after
the Transportation Security Administration lifted the prohibition on
unattended vehicles parking within 300 feet of an airport terminal. That
move came about because the national terror alert had been lowered to code
yellow, the middle of the five-point scale of risk.

The vehicle inspections also mean that only one entrance to each of the
three terminal garages will be open. Normally, the parking lots have two
entrances.

Earlier this week, KCI spokesman Joe McBride said the airport would likely
resume vehicle inspections and strictly enforce the terminal curbside
parking ban if the terror alert was raised.

Travelers at KCI on Friday said they did not notice any changes in security
-- other than the ones that have been in place since the terrorist attacks.

"I didn't give a second thought to not traveling today," said Scott Newell
of Dallas while he waited for his luggage at the Delta Airlines gate. "This
terror alert is not going to slow me down."

Additional precautions

Officials from the Kansas City police and the local FBI office said they
weren't making any drastic changes because of the threat level increase.

Spokesmen from both agencies said they had already tightened security at
their facilities and created plans for what to do in a terrorist attack
after Sept. 11, 2001.

Police spokesman Capt. Rich Lockhart said the department on Friday locked
the doors to a building that houses the traffic unit, among other units. The
public usually has full access to the building.

The higher alert also triggered tighter security precautions at federal
offices, but those changes will vary depending on the sensitivity of the
location, said Brad Scott, central regional administrator of the General
Services Administration, the government's landlord agency.

"It ranges from increased patrols to increased material searches in your
bags coming through the door to accessibility issues, such as ingress and
egress," Scott said.

"We may also control (vehicular) traffic in and around a facility," he
continued. "We may also choose to search vehicles. All of this depends upon
the facility."

Public access to the fishing lake beside the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant
in southeast Kansas was closed after the terror alert was raised.

Coffey County Sheriff Randy Rogers said the lake would remain closed until
further notice.

Susan Maycock, spokeswoman for the power plant, said Wolf Creek's Web site
had been disabled, its visitors center was closed, and there was additional
security coordinated with local and state law enforcement.

"These are the same measures we took on Sept. 11, 2001," Maycock said.

Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, said
all state agencies were notified about the increased risk and advised to
increase their surveillance.

"Most of it is just taking additional precautions," Moser said.

No significant changes in access and security were made at the State Defense
Building in Topeka, National Guard armories or other state buildings, she
said.

FBI seeks Pakistani

The FBI asked the public for help Friday in locating a Pakistani man
identified as Mohammed Sher Mohammed Khan, 36, who it said may have entered
the United States illegally after Sept. 1, 2001.

The agency said it had no specific information that Khan was a terrorist,
although it wanted to question him. Officials said Khan wasn't the sole
reason for the heightened alert, but was one of the primary factors.

Another intelligence official said officials feared that an attack could
involve a chemical or biological weapon or a "dirty" bomb, a crude
radiological device.

Ashcroft on Friday raised the specter of chemical, biological or
radiological assaults. He noted that alleged al-Qaida members were arrested
recently in London, where the poison ricin was seized.

One intelligence official said the threat level was raised after officials
received indications of a coming attack in a specific location by a specific
terrorist cell. That official wouldn't elaborate, but another suggested that
New York was the possible site.

New York Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a
news conference that doctors and nurses have been alerted to watch for
unusual outbreaks of infectious disease. They also said they would activate
special units of the state police and National Guard to help protect
bridges, tunnels, subways and other facilities.

The timing of the latest warning, which covered Americans at home and
abroad, coincided with the Muslim Hajj. That event typically produces
enormous numbers of pilgrims from around the world to the holy city of Mecca
in Saudi Arabia, straining the ability of security agencies to track known
and suspected militants.

Authorities urged Americans to maintain their normal work and travel plans
but enhance their general level of vigilance, an action they said could help
deter attacks.

On the wider scale, they said that more sky marshals would be assigned to
commercial flights, security checks at airports would be intensified, and
travelers would be scrutinized more carefully at border crossings and other
entry points.

"An alert public is our strongest asset," said FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Mueller and other federal officials said the sheer magnitude of intercepted
"chatter" -- terrorist communications -- compelled them to elevate the alert
from moderate to "high," orange on the color-coded scale, just one step
below the most ominous "severe," or red alert.

The level was last raised to orange for the first anniversary of the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks.

With the United States moving toward war with Iraq, authorities said that
they were worried about Iraqi agents but that their principal concern
remained al-Qaida.

One intelligence report said that bin Laden has recorded a new audio or
video message, which analysts think is intended for broadcast soon after a
major terrorist attack.

Bin Laden's previous messages have criticized what he called U.S. aggression
against the Iraqi people. He has lambasted U.N. sanctions and threats of war
against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.


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