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From Capitol Hill Blue - Oct 24, 2004 The plot that wasn't there U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials admitted Saturday (Oct. 23) they have found no direct evidence of plans for a terror attack tied to the upcoming U.S. election. There were abundant indications of desire by terror groups like al Qaeda to launch an attack on U.S. soil, but no plot had been discovered on a specific target or date, they said. An official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the FBI has stepped up its preventive efforts in the run-up to voting on Nov. 2. "The intelligence community has seen stuff that reaffirms the belief these people are determined to attack," said an intelligence official. Like the FBI official, he said no specific plot had been discovered, but added that type of tip-off is rare. In mid-September, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies launched a well-publicized campaign to foil potential attacks around the vote. Speculation that an attack might take place was been heightened since commuter trains in Madrid were bombed in March three days before Spain's general election. The country's pro-U.S. government was swept from power and the incoming Socialists quickly pulled Spanish troops from Iraq. In its Saturday editions, The Washington Post quoted unnamed officials as saying a CIA source who had claimed knowledge of such plans was discredited. However, the FBI official and the intelligence official, who asked not to be identified by name, said there was a constant flow of information indicating a terror risk. "No intelligence gathered to date has caused us to re-evaluate the seriousness of the threat," the FBI official said. "We're stepping up our efforts now because the window (of time before the election) is closing." Law enforcement agencies have conducted hundreds of interviews in immigrant neighborhoods and increased surveillance on people already under scrutiny for possible ties to terror groups. Some 2,000 FBI counter-terrorism agents were assigned to the interviews and following up leads. The FBI and other agencies have searched records on permits for explosives, rentals of storage facilities, use of crop-dusting airplanes and other activities that could be linked to al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. USA Today – Oct. 23, 2004 FBI probes leads on election terror plot WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI investigators have made new arrests and developed leads that reinforce concerns that terrorists plan to strike around the presidential election, officials said Saturday, even though the CIA has discredited a person who told its agents of such a plot involving al-Qaeda. A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some of the leads were culled from interviews with thousands of individuals that agents have conducted in the Muslim community. The official would not be more specific, but said the FBI continues to have misgivings about possible al-Qaeda intentions to launch an attack with the goal of affecting the elections. Several people have been taken into custody recently on charges not related to terrorism, but officials are investigating whether they may have been involved in terror activities, said another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity. As for the person who warned the CIA, at least some of that individual's reporting no longer is seen as credible, said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official stressed, however, that a number of other sources point to terrorist activity around the election season. The official also said no concrete plot has been discovered so far with specific mention of time, place, method or identity of would-be attackers. James Carafano, a homeland security expert with the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, said there's little doubt that al-Qaeda wants to send a message with an attack. "I think they're probably less concerned with affecting the outcome of the election, whether Bush or Kerry wins, but it would be more prestigious, the capability to do something before the election and really undermine the confidence of the United States," he said…. |