“Be vigilant … if you see any strange people around who are strangers with cameras.” –D.C. official, at a press conference

In his press conference this morning, Tom Ridge cited five specific buildings as possible Al Qaeda targets: The World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the Citicorp buildings and New York Stock Exchange in New York City.

The New York Stock Exchange

UPDATE: I wonder whether this alert will: 1) cause Al Qaeda to call off this particular plot and look for an alternative; 2) cause them to “move up” the plot to an earlier date, quite soon, in the hopes of catching us off-guard before we’ve fully put our security measures in place; or 3) have little or no effect on their operational plans.

If Al Qaeda were to choose option 2 or option 3, and were to successfully pull off an attack against one or more of these buildings, it occurs to me that that would be a major success for the terrorists, and would be perceived as a major failure for the government and Bush. This announcement by Ridge has really raised the stakes, in a way.

In response to a reporter’s question, Ridge said the Pakistani woman who was apprehended illegally crossing the border with a fishy passport, $7,000 in cash, and a plane ticket to New York (see previous post) is not connected to this plot. Uhh…. riiiiight. I’m thinking Ridge may have just said that because the woman’s name was specifically mentioned and she, unlike Al Qaeda as a whole, enjoys the presumption of innocence. That’s just a guess, though.

CNN reports:

New intelligence indicates al Qaeda is threatening to attack corporate and financial institutions in New York City, a federal law enforcement official told CNN on Saturday.

The official said the information suggests “there is a new plan in the works.”

On TV, the CNN reporter specified that this threat is seemingly being taken more seriously than some of the vague and/or uncorroborated threats we’ve heard about before. The New York Times confirms this:

“The information is considered credible,” said another law enforcement official, who insisted on anonymity. The official said the police and federal terrorism authorities, who have received similar threats before, were unusually concerned about the new information.

ABC News, which apparently broke this story, states that “Wall Street firms may be among the targeted U.S. corporations based in New York City. Which corporations or how many may be targeted has not been revealed.”

“It would be right to assume that there is particular concern” about large Manhattan buildings and institutions, according to the a law enforcement source who spoke with the Times. He said the United Nations was considered a potential target, as were large banks, financial institutions and company headquarters.”

Officials suspect a Mexican connection, which is especially intriguing in light of my previous post about possible illegal immigration across the Arizona border in recent weeks by groups of Arabic-speaking men. Says ABC:

Intelligence sources say al Qaeda plans to move non-Arab terrorists across the border with Mexico.

Authorities already have in custody a woman of Pakistani origin arrested after crossing into Texas. She carried a South African passport with several of the pages torn out, $7,000 in cash and an airplane ticket to New York.

The Times says the woman, Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, was arrested on July 19 after “crossing the Rio Grande and crawling through the brush.” According to one official, she is “believed to have been on a terrorist watch list”:

She might have been sent as “a courier” to pass along either a message or documentation to someone in the United States.

A law enforcement official in New York said, “the concern was that she may be part of a team” planning attacks in the city.

As for the possible method, “the attack may involve one or more suicide truck bombings, a tactic never seen in the United States, but one widely used by terrorists elsewhere,” according to ABC:

“I think they want to try and shake our psyche again,” says Jerry Hauer, an ABC News consultant and former director of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management. “And I think the easy types of attacks right now are car bombs, truck bombs.”

Law enforcement officials acknowledge such bombs are extremely difficult to prevent.

The Times’s source “said many companies and institutions had already been contacted, and that they were warned to pay particular attention to their parking garages and heating, ventilation air conditioning systems.”

CNN elaborated on those latter areas of concern, which seem to indicate a fear of possible chemical or biological attack. Companies have reportedly been advised to consider:

* Posting security at the fresh-air intake in heating, ventilation and air conditioning rooms, if they are accessible to the public, and keep the rooms locked

* Challenging maintenance workers when maintenance has not been requested, and watching for unexpected deliveries

* Testing alarm systems, including those on rooftop doors

“As to the timing of any planned attack, sources say it could take place between now and Election Day in November,” ABC reports. Of course, the Republican National Convention is in New York during the last week of August, “but it was unclear yesterday whether the new information” is tied to the RNC or any other specific timetable, according to the Times.

The New Republic, July 7:

This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban’s Mullah Mohammed Omar, all of whom are believed to be hiding in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. … This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. … According to [a Pakistani intelligence] official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that “it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July“–the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

CNN, July 29:

Pakistan has arrested a senior al Qaeda figure with a bounty of up to $25 million on his head, Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat told CNN television Thursday.

He said the suspect had been captured during a raid in central Pakistan a few days ago. He did not identify the captive but said he was “a person who is most wanted internationally.”

Al Arabiya satellite news channel quoted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as saying the suspect was arrested Sunday.

Arrested Sunday, but not announced until today! And they’re still not telling us who it is… dragging out the suspense, eh?

Al Arabiya reports that the suspect “may be” Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, one of the 1998 embassy bombers; the FBI “is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture,” so he would fit the profile described by CNN, but would not qualify as the sort of “HVT” who would knock John Kerry down into the second spot on the nightly news.

If that’s the case, fine. But on the off chance this is Bin Laden, Omar or Al Zawahiri — and if that part of the news is announced, say, oh I don’t know, halfway through Kerry’s acceptance speech — I trust that Andrew will gain a new respect for TNR and its “incredible, unverified story” of a July Surprise conspiracy.

I’m not saying I expect this to be the case, I just find the timing most intriguing (albeit a day off). It’s probably nothing, but one can’t help but wonder.

Stay tuned…

UPDATE: Well, no sooner do I post this than I see that they have now announced it was Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.

Well, good. Another terrorist off the streets.

Is Arizona, which was an al-Qaeda hotbed in the run-up to 9/11, in the terrorists’ sights once again? Could be, according to the right-wing Tombstone Tumbleweed of Tombstone, AZ:

TWO GROUPS OF MIDDLE-EASTERN INVADERS CAUGHT IN COCHISE COUNTY IN PAST SIX WEEKS…

A flood of middle-eastern males have been caught entering the country illegally east of Douglas, Arizona. The increased patrols in the Huachuca Mountains area of Cochise County, seems to have diverted the flow of OTM’s, “other than Mexicans,” east to the Chiricahua Mountains. …

On or about the early morning hours of June 13, 2004, Border Patrol agents from the Willcox station encountered a large group of suspected illegal border crossers, estimated to be around 158, just east of the Sanders Ranch near the foothills of the Chiricauha Mountains. 71 suspected illegal aliens were apprehended; among them were 53 males of middle-eastern descent.

According to a Border Patrol field agent, the men were suspected to be Iranian or possibly Syrian nationals. “One thing’s for sure: these guys didn’t speak Spanish and after we questioned them harder we discovered they spoke poor English with a middle-eastern accent; then we caught them speaking to each other in Arabic…this is ridiculous that we don’t take this more seriously, and we’re told not to say a thing to the media, but I have to,” said the agent, who spoke to the Tumbleweed with the promise of anonymity.

[Information officer Andy] Adame confirms the groups of illegals were apprehended on those dates in the same area but stated, “There were no middle easterners in the group. Every single one of them was Mexican.” …

[But] the information was corroborated by a local rancher in the area who reports that sightings of groups similar to these are on the rise. …

On or about the evening of June 21, 2004, agents from the Willcox Border Patrol station apprehended 24 members of a larger group of Arabic speaking males located just east of the Pierce/Sunsites area of Cochise County. At least half of the males escaped capture and disappeared into the United States.

A couple of important notes. First, I don’t know how much stock to put in this story. I’m unfamiliar with the source, but it’s clearly a rather right-wing, harshly anti-illegal-immigration site just from the word choice (”invaders,” etc.), and it’s entirely possible that somebody is just griding an axe here.

Second, not all Middle Easterners or Arabic-speaking men are terrorists, obviously. Maybe these are just run-of-the-mill immigrants who want to make money and pursue the American dream, but fear they will not be allowed into the country legally because of post-9/11 immigration restrictions and ethnic suspicions.

On the other hand, maybe they’re terrorists.

Lending credence — perhaps — to the latter explanation is this AP report:

The FBI warned police in California and New Mexico that it received information about possible terrorist activity in their states. However, the warning wasn’t specific about particular targets or a method of attack, a federal law enforcement official said Thursday. …

The vague warning was distributed to authorities in California, New Mexico and some other Western states the official did not identify.

Well, I figured this was at least worth mentioning. If it is true that large numbers of Middle Eastern men are crossing the border illegally, it’s only prudent to wonder whether something is up (just as it’s prudent to wonder about that whole “Terror in the Skies” thing).

We report, you decide.

UPDATE: More suspicious activity in the Southwest:

U.S. officials are investigating a South African woman whom they say tried to board a flight near the United States-Mexico border with an altered passport, amid reports that South African passports have ended up in the hands of terrorists. Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, 48, was arrested on July 19 at the McAllen airport and charged four days later with illegal entry into the United States, falsifying information and falsifying a passport. She was denied bail on Tuesday by a federal magistrate. This comes as U.S. officials confirm a threat of al Qaeda recruiting non-Arabs to plan an attack inside the United States.

More here.

On the day after the 9/11 Commission report declared that “we are safer today, but we are not safe,” the New York Times reveals once again the seriousness of the current terror threat:

Al Qaeda members captured in recent weeks in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan have provided important information about a possible impending terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, senior intelligence officials said.

The interrogations of the Qaeda members have been a major factor in raising American concerns about a possible attack to a level not seen since Sept. 11, the intelligence officials said. They said that the captured members of Al Qaeda had provided clues that traced planning for a major attack back to the group’s central leadership, including Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

“We don’t have specificity to exact time, place or location,” a senior intelligence official said. “But it’s more than just them saying generally that there’s something coming.” …

“I wouldn’t characterize what we have now as chatter,” a senior Central Intelligence Agency official said. “I think we have some fairly specific information that Al Qaeda wants to come after us.” The senior C.I.A. official, a counterterrorism expert, added, “This is serious.”

It seems pretty obvious that, under the criteria that were used in 2002 and 2003 to determine the terror-alert level, we’d be at orange right now. Clearly they’ve racheted up the requisite level of concern necessary to increase the alert in order to avoid “threat fatigue,” but even so, unless the sources cited in this article are way off base, it strikes me as quite odd that we’re still at yellow when concern over a possible attack is at “a level not seen since Sept. 11.”

UPDATE: From Reuters:

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Friday warned top executives of major American sports organizations that al Qaeda may strike soon — possibly at large sports events.

In a seminar for commissioners and other top officials of professional and amateur sports organizations, Ridge and other Homeland Security officials asked for help in ensuring safety at and around major sporting events.

He repeated a warning that the government fears al Qaeda might try to stage another large-scale attack in the United States, though he said he had no details on the time, place or method.

“You are here because you know that mass public gatherings — such as the large sports events you will be hosting in the coming year — are potential targets,” he said. “And you know that the way to protect your venues from attack is to be prepared.”

How… helpful.

I’m still waiting for the green light on letting y’all know the real reason I profiled BoiFromTroy yesterday. But that information is still embargoed for the moment… so let’s proceed to other business, like convention coverage tips for the media from The Note:

2. That big, ugly blob in government center actually is City Hall. Just accept it and move on.

3. It’s easy to get Mayor Menino to say something controversial — too easy, in fact. Think of him as the Chuck Hagel of mayors. …

6. Try — at least try — to not use the phrase “close the deal” in every story you write next week.

Heh.

The Note also, um, notes: “We reserve the right to continue to end sentences with prepositions, even though some of you have warned us that that is something up with which you will not put.” Again, heh.

Speaking of convention coverage, the media covering the DNC has been warned of a credible domestic terrorist threat against… the media.

Sandy Burglar update: it’s sounding less and less “innocent” with each passing moment. (More here. InstaPundit commentary and links here.)

I call for multiple overlapping investigations!

A bizarre and troubling story out of Washington, which has the blogosphere in a tizzy:

Samuel Berger, President Clinton’s national security adviser, is the focus of a criminal investigation into whether he improperly removed notes and classified documents from the National Archives during preparations for hearings by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Berger said he inadvertently took some documents from the archives but was not trying to withhold information from the commission. His lawyers said he was cooperating with authorities. Three government officials who have been briefed on the investigation said Berger had removed handwritten notes and classified documents from a private room at the National Archives where he was preparing for his March 24 testimony. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

Two of the officials said Berger was reportedly seen stuffing some of the material into his clothing.

Into his pants, specifically. One InstaPundit reader wants to call this scandal “trousergate.” Another says it’s “refreshing that a Clinton Admin. official got in trouble for what he put INTO his pants.” Heh.

(more…)

The FBI has launched a new series of voluntary interviews with Arabs and Muslim who they hope might be able to provide them with information that would help efforts to thwart the “large-scale attack” that is believed to be planned for this fall, according to the Washington Post. One of the interviewed students mentioned in the Post article is a local:

Yaser Alamoodi, a student at Arizona State University, was surprised to get a visit at home recently from a campus police officer with the local Joint Terrorism Task Force. The 27-year-old student, who is a Yemeni citizen applying for U.S. residency, said that he agreed to the interview and that the officer was friendly and polite.

Alamoodi said the questions included whether he knew anyone who had recently returned from Pakistan, anyone who had shown interest in a government building or agency or anyone who had shown extreme hostility toward Americans.

“The questions were just ridiculous,” he said. “I said, ‘You guys really think you’re going to get anywhere with these kind of questions?’ ”

Alamoodi said he was puzzled about why he was selected for an interview.

“I don’t go to the mosque that often,” he said, “unless they have free food.”

Although I wonder if Alamoodi might have a point about the some of the questions being a bit “ridiculous” and unlikely to be helpful — not to mention the inherent problems caused by the “voluntary” nature of the interviews — I don’t really see anything objectionable, from a civil-liberties standpoint, about the tactics and actions as described by the Post. This round of questioning is described as “far more targeted than an earlier program of voluntary interviews with men from Arab and Muslim countries, which followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was criticized for being ineffective and using [racial] profiling.” An FBI official says, “This is not a general population. They are identified by intelligence or investigative information.”

There is one thing that made me squirm just a little bit, though:

Some of the interview subjects were also asked broad questions, such as their opinion of the U.S. invasion of Iraq or of the Syrian government, activists said.

Um, how is that relevant to trying to stop a terrorist attack?

This made me laugh out loud:

Airport police said a security screener was waving a metal-detecting wand over [airline passenger Daryl] Miller’s pants area on Friday when Miller pulled his shorts down to his ankles. He wasn’t wearing any underwear.

Miller then said, “There, how do you like your job,” thus ending the screening, according to the police report. He was charged with indecent exposure and released on $300 bail. …

“This person exposed themself in a public area, a clear violation of the law, and we needed to take some action on that, otherwise everybody would be dropping their pants,” [airport police Lt. Matt] Christenson said.

Oh yeah, America is one indecent-exposure charge away from becoming a giant nudist colony. Riiiiight.

Of course, you know why this happened. It’s because the FMA was defeated. I told you gay marriage would undermine the moral fabric of our society! Quick, somebody get Santorum on the phone! :)

Islamofascists 1, Philippines 0.

Are the conspiracy theorists actually right? Is the Bush Administration molding its war-on-terror strategy around the election calendar? Are they obsessed with catching Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri, and/or Mullah Omar before Nov. 2 — perhaps even planning on announcing the capture(s) during the Democratic Convention, if possible? So says The New Republic:

This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban’s Mullah Mohammed Omar, all of whom are believed to be hiding in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. … This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. …

The New Republic has learned that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce HVTs by the election. According to one source in Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), “The Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the U.S. administration to deliver before the U.S. elections.” Introducing target dates for Al Qaeda captures is a new twist in U.S.-Pakistani counterterrorism relations–according to a recently departed intelligence official, “no timetable[s]” were discussed in 2002 or 2003–but the November election is apparently bringing a new deadline pressure to the hunt. …

An official who works under ISI’s director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed TNR that the Pakistanis “have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before [the] election is [an] absolute must.” What’s more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: “The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq’s] meetings in Washington.” Says [National Security Council spokesman Sean] McCormack: “I’m aware of no such comment.” But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that “it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July”–the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. …

Pushing Musharraf to go after Al Qaeda in the tribal areas may be a good idea despite the risks [namely, starting a border war without actually capturing any of the HVTs]. But, if that is the case, it was a good idea in 2002 and 2003. Why the switch now? Top Pakistanis think they know: This year, the president’s reelection is at stake.

We link, you decide.

I had a good time blaming Kentucky when it was first revealed that the plane which caused a frantic evacuation of the Capitol during the Reagan funeral ceremonies was in fact carrying the govenror of the Bluegrass State. But now it seems that Gov. Fletcher’s plane was almost shot down:

The top general at the North American Aerospace Defense Command was on the telephone and prepared to order an F-16 fighter to shoot down an unidentified plane that turned out to be carrying the governor of Kentucky to President Ronald Reagan’s funeral last month …

[T]he close call caused officials to reassess safeguards for the airspace around Washington and prompted calls to expand the no-fly zone beyond its current 16-mile radius.

Although many planes have violated restrictions imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the June 9 episode was extraordinary because the aircraft penetrated so deeply into the no-fly zone during a high-security event and remained unidentified to air defense officials for several critical minutes. Current and former homeland security officials said the incident was a significant security breakdown.

The episode, described by some officials as the closest the government has come to downing a civilian plane over Washington since Sept. 11, 2001, will be the subject of two hearings on Capitol Hill today.

I would call for numerous, overlapping investigations, but it seems someone has already beaten me to the punch.