Just Be Alerted!
FBI Issues New Terrorism Warning
Bureau Asking Americans to Be on Highest Alert
By KAREN GULLO
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (Oct. 30) - The FBI is warning again that terrorists may attack U.S. interests, possibly this week, and that Americans and police should be on the highest alert. Members of Osama bin Laden's network could be plotting attacks in retaliation for the American-led bombing of Afghanistan, officials said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said the warning - the second this month - was based on credible information, described by others as coming from intelligence sources, that terrorists could strike within the United States or against U.S. intelligence sources. The information did not specify the type of attack or targets, Ashcroft said.
As on Oct. 11, when the FBI issued a similar warning, Ashcroft tried to walk a fine line between giving the public prompt and necessary warnings and not causing panic.
The alert ''gives people a basis for continuing to live their lives the way they would otherwise live them, with this elevated sense of alertness or vigilance,'' Ashcroft told a news conference.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said the Oct. 11 warning may have helped avert an attack. Ashcroft said the absence of an attack should not lull people ''into a false sense of indifference.''
''It's important for the American people to understand that these (alerts) are to be taken seriously,'' said Ashcroft, who canceled plans to travel Monday to Toronto to address a conference of police chiefs.
Officials said the warning was based in part on intelligence that bin Laden's al-Qaida network may be agitating to strike again in the aftermath of the Afghan bombings by U.S. and British forces.
''There certainly is intelligence that causes you to be concerned, and possibly that al-Qaida may be behind it,'' one senior U.S. official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
Ashcroft said 18,000 law enforcement agencies were advised to go on the highest alert. Federal agencies, meanwhile, were increasing security and immigration authorities were boosting their efforts to keep suspected terrorists from coming onto U.S. soil.
The alert came as investigators continued to search for the source of the anthrax that has killed three people and infected dozens of others on the East Coast.
So far scientists have not matched the anthrax mailed from New Jersey with any samples of anthrax available in the United States, a source speaking on condition of anonymity said.
Investigators suspect that a single person, perhaps a deranged U.S. resident with a biochemistry background, may be behind the attacks.
Officials have ruled out the presence of the additive bentonite, which could make the spores spread more easily through the air.
But the anthrax found in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle included silica, a crystal commonly used as a drying agent to control clumping in pharmaceuticals. Experts said the presence of silica suggests that whoever sent the anthrax wanted it to float in the air so people would inhale it.
The new warning came as jumpy Americans prepared to celebrate Halloween on Wednesday. Stories circulating on the Internet warned about possible attacks on the children's holiday. Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said authorities had received no specific information about a Halloween attack.
The alert follows the enactment Friday of a new anti-terrorism law that provides prosecutors with intelligence files on suspected terrorists and gives them greater surveillance powers. Tucker said the Justice Department received information about the possibility of an attack on Monday, but she wouldn't comment on whether information gleaned from intelligence files or wiretaps pointed to new attacks.
The attorney general asked citizens to be patient if they encountered additional security measures and to note any suspicious activities.
''We urge Americans in the course of their normal activities to remain alert and to report unusual circumstances and inappropriate behavior to the appropriate authorities,'' he said.
AP-NY-10-30-01 0243EST
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