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| Terror warning may deter attack |
| 2004-08-02 |
| The government's very public warning to financial institutions may actually deter a bombing but also raises questions about what the next step will be for both terrorists and defenders. And among security experts and former counterintelligence officials who had criticized previous terrorism warnings as too vague or perhaps politically motivated, there was wide praise for the unique level of detail in the warning Sunday to a handful of specific financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J. "If I worked in one of those buildings, I would feel very safe now," and not just because the security there will be tightened, said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterintelligence chief. "Given that it's captured material and now made public, there's a good chance it won't happen. Al-Qaida has to realize the mission has been compromised." Among the extraordinary detail that Al-Qaida operatives had assembled about potential target buildings were such details as architectural elements that might prevent collapse, a count of 14 pedestrians per minute along the sidewalk outside one building at midweek, locations of security checkpoints inside buildings and identification of days when fewer guards worked or elevators were shut down, a senior intelligence official said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 CF - Chicago is beefing up security anyway. I didn't catch the full report of what was being done, though. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-08-02 3:24:31 PM |
| #2 The warning may only deflect the attack to a secondary target in LA, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, etc... which are not on the list. There are a lot of potential targets nationwide and we simply cannot protect them all 24/7. I would not be at all suprised that the team sent has a list of secondary and trinary (sp?) targets on-hand and simply go-down-the-list to a less protected target. We should get controls of our borders and stop the flood of illegal aliens and terrorists. Didn't that woman caught in Texas cross the border illegally about 250 times or sometime? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-08-02 10:20:08 AM |
| #1 Although it hasn't been widely reported, UK attack plans were also uncovered in the same operation. I wonder why the UK gov is being so low key, given the possible deterrence effect of publicity. |
| Posted by: Lux 2004-08-02 7:41:29 AM |