 | |  | | Friday, February 07, 2003
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is raising the national terror threat level from yellow to orange, meaning there is a "high risk" of terrorist threat, government officials told Fox News.
Attorney General John Ashcroft scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. EST, at which time he was expected to make the announcement. President Bush approved the decision in a meeting early Friday.
A high-ranking official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was based on an increase in intelligence pointing to a possible attack around the three-day Muslim holy period of Hajj, which begins on Sunday.
Senior White House, Justice and Homeland Security Department officials had considered raising the level for several days.
The alert has been at code yellow, or "elevated," which is the middle of a five-point scale of risk developed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It was last raised to orange on Sept. 10, the day before the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and it stayed at that level for two weeks.
Government officials have grown increasingly concerned about the likelihood of terrorist attacks within the United States as intelligence sources are reporting an increase in terrorist activity or "chatter." One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this activity appeared to be peaking and was rivaling that seen before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
U.S. preparation for a possible war with Iraq and Sunday's start of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy Saudi city of Mecca, were also key factors in the decision to raise the alert status. Muslim holy periods tend to raise jitters about terrorist activity among U.S. intelligence officials.
As in the past, officials said they had no information regarding specific terrorist threats and no indication of a time, place or manner of any attack. The FBI, however, is preparing to tell Congress that Al Qaeda remains the greatest threat for carrying out a terror attack on U.S. soil.
Last September, the alert level was raised when a high-level Al Qaeda prisoner warned that an attack was imminent on U.S. embassies in southeast Asia.
Those attacks did not take place and may have been broken up by arrests. U.S. officials say they have thwarted more than 100 terrorist plots around the world, including some planned within the United States, since the Sept. 11 attacks. |  |  |  |  |
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