Concerns about terrorism increasing

Just two weeks after Cofer Black (the State Department head of counter-terrorism) made his now-infamous assertion that we've got al-Qaeda "on the run", and that the lack of any al-Qaeda attacks during the Iraq war was proof of how effective the war on terror has been, we're back at orange alert status, due to an increased risk of terror attacks. In addition, the FBI is warning that al-Qaeda is "regenerating" and has been training new operatives in the Republic of Georgia.

The ABCnews.com article also notes notes:

In Riyadh, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, told reporters late Monday that Saudi intelligence had reported a "high level of chatter regionally and in other international spots" about possible attacks in Saudi Arabia or America.

"My gut feeling tells me something big is going to happen here or in America," said Prince Bandar.

The Department of Homeland Security has also issued a bulletin, warning that people should be aware of the following activities:

• Theft of explosives, blasting caps, or fuses, or certain chemicals used in the manufacture of explosives.
  
  
• Rental of self-storage space for the purpose of storing chemicals or chemical-mixing apparatus.
  
  
• Delivery of chemicals directly to a self-storage facility or unusual deliveries of chemicals
  
  
• Chemical fires, toxic odors, brightly colored stains, or rusted metal fixtures in apartments, hotel/motel rooms, or self-storage units.
  
  
• Rental, theft, or purchase of truck or van with minimum 1-ton carrying capacity.
  
  
• Modification of truck or van with heavy duty springs to handle heavier loads.
  
  

Any of these factors alone do not necessarily suggest terrorist activity, homeland security officials warned. But authorities should consider and notice these factors if they suspect various targets may be vulnerable to attacks.

MSNBC news is also reporting that the officials are concerned that the attacks last week may have been a diversionary tactic to try and avert attention from a potential attack here in the US:

OFFICIALS SAID the FBI issued an alert last week to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country that Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, which was blamed for two recent deadly suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, could mount new attacks in the United States.

Senior officials told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell that some intelligence analysts believed the attack May 12 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, was intended to distract U.S. authorities from paying attention to imminent threats inside the United States. The Saudi bombings killed 25 people, including eight Americans, as well as none of the bombers.

The officials said al-Qaida operatives left Saudi Arabia before the Riyadh attacks and were at large, which they described as a typical al-Qaida method of operation. They said a particularly active cell had been uncovered in Kenya.

I must admit, I'm glad that no one seems to be trying to hide the current risk in order to avoid embarassment over the confident "we're winning the war on terror" messages that the administration had been promoting recently. Still, I find it disheartening that such pronouncements were being made by one of the country's top counter-terrorism officials, when the threat from al-Qaeda has never truly lessened. That it took more attacks for the administration to figure out that there is still a significant reason for concern tells me that our intelligence on the matter isn't a whole lot better than it was pre-9/11 - and that's something that should be rather worrisome, I'd think.

Posted by thorswitch at May 20, 2003 02:16 PM | TrackBack