Terror Threat Level Is Raised

WASHINGTON — Citing credible reports of a planned terrorist attack against the United States “equal to or greater than those that occurred on 9/11,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Sunday raised the nation’s terror threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high -- the second-highest position on the color-coded ladder.

“The information that we have,” Ridge told a news conference, “indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will either rival or exceed” the Sept. 11, 2001, jetliner attacks by the Al Qaeda terrorist network on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Al Qaeda continues to be interested in using aircraft as weapons and in launching mass casualty attacks in the United States, Ridge said.

Across the country, authorities ordered heightened security measures -- from random inspections of cars arriving at Los Angeles and Long Beach airports to National Guard checkpoints in New York City. The FBI established 24-hour command centers at each of its 56 field offices.

The indicators behind the alert were gleaned from intercepted e-mails and phone conversations and from recently detained individuals with ties to Al Qaeda, U.S. officials said. Several sources with known ties to the terror network appeared to be discussing the same large-scale plot.

“It’s unspecific, just something big in the United States,” said one U.S. official, who requested anonymity.

Major metropolitan areas would make the most sense as targets in a high-profile attack, Ridge said, specifically citing New York and Washington. Although Ridge did not mention Los Angeles, two federal law enforcement officials told The Times late Sunday that terrorist operatives were overheard discussing Los Angeles as a potential target.

“We have some matters that we’re trying to investigate right now,” said one FBI official, adding that the bureau would have further comment today.

Both law enforcement officials cautioned that the information about Los Angeles, as well as references to New York and Washington, had not been corroborated.

While most of the “threat indicators” point to the use of hijacked planes to attack U.S. targets, a senior federal law enforcement official said, a significant amount of information also led to concern about chemical or biological weapons.

That official also said the FBI was analyzing several “separate and distinct pieces of information” about a suicide bomb plot somewhere in the United States. But the official said initial reports that the plot had been traced to the New York City area were premature or uncorroborated.

“The real concern is the volume of the threat information, all the chatter,” the official said.

The last elevation of the threat level came May 20, following terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, and lasted for 10 days. Though Sunday’s action was the fifth time that the level has gone up from yellow to orange since the code system’s debut in March 2002, “I have never seen this place ramp up the way it has,” said a senior counter-terrorism official. President Bush approved the escalation Sunday morning.

The decision came after 48 hours of near-constant phone calls and meetings among high-ranking Bush administration officials about the threats -- and the costs associated with an orange alert, which could amount to millions of dollars and a significant disruption of police and fire departments and other first-response agencies, the U.S. official said.

An orange alert is prompted largely by threatened targets within U.S. borders. But the State Department also issued a warning Sunday of increasing indications that Al Qaeda is preparing to strike at U.S. interests abroad any time over the next six months.

Because Al Qaeda and its associates have already mounted lethal attacks this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Istanbul, Turkey, the State Department alert cautioned that “other geographic locations could be venues for the next round.”

Ridge acknowledged that the latest change in the terror index would result in “some inconveniences” for holiday travelers.

But he urged families to go ahead with their plans. He added that the alert could extend beyond New Year’s Day.

In a conference call with governors before his announcement, Ridge did not outline any specific threats to California, said Margita Thompson, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s press secretary.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said he decided to “err on the side of caution” and monitor 650 potential targets.

Along with the moves at LAX, the Los Angeles Port Police stepped up on-board inspections of ships, Mayor James K. Hahn said in a statement.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said security was boosted at major bridges in the Bay Area, the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro and the Coronado Bridge in San Diego.

In addition, Schwarzenegger asked CHP officials to increase airplane and helicopter patrols over the California Aqueduct and the high-tension lines that send power running up and down the backbone of the state. Security has also been stepped up at nuclear power plants.

New York City has remained on an orange-alert footing since the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed about 3,000 people, but officials said they had tightened security even further following Ridge’s announcement. They noted previous arrests in alleged plots to damage the Brooklyn Bridge and subway tracks in Queens.

But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the annual New Year’s gathering in Times Square was still on.

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday that the terror network still wants to use chemical, biological or radiological weapons. “If they could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction and make it 10,000, not 3,000, they would do that -- and not just in the United States but in any of the free world or any people that treasure freedom,” Myers said on “Fox News Sunday.”

But a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), said he would expect a “low-level operation, if it does happen, God forbid” rather than a more elaborate plot. Bayh said on CNN’s “Late Edition” that “a transportation hub -- something like that” was a likely target for “a suicide bombing -- a truck bombing.”

He added: “In a free society, it’s very difficult to protect against the lone wolf who’s willing to kill himself in the process of killing many others.”

The five-level terror code has never been lower than yellow -- the midpoint -- since its debut in March 2002. The index also has never reached the top condition of red, or severe. That would prompt mobilization of special response teams, major changes in transportation and closure of public facilities. Officials have said that they would escalate to red only if an attack were imminent or underway.

Many times, terror suspects have purposely discussed false plots to disconcert U.S. authorities, but the U.S. official said that the government is satisfied that the latest rise in chatter is not staged.

Ridge publicly acknowledged three months ago that the color-code alert system needed refinement because local governments were complaining about the costs of overtime and deployment in response to vague warnings. A congressional report had also criticized the terror index as so unclear that the public might stop taking note of alerts.

“We worry about the credibility of the system,” Ridge said at the time. He said then that improved homeland security in general would allow the Bush administration to start using a higher standard of corroborated information to trigger an increase in the threat level.

The day before Ridge’s latest announcement, the CIA authenticated an audio tape with new warnings of attacks.

“With God’s help, we are still chasing Americans and their allies everywhere, including their homeland,” Ayman Zawahiri, the top deputy to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said on the tape. The undated recording aired Friday on Al Jazeera, an Arabic-language television network based in Qatar.

On the tape, Zawahiri addressed Americans, who have been urged in past messages to oppose the policies of President Bush. “How can we excuse you after all the warnings that we gave you? You reap what you sow,” he said.

Zawahiri also threatened Arab countries that provided “bases and help” for the U.S. Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain gave such help during the war to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. A U.S. official said, however, that the Zawahiri tape did not cause the orange alert.

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Pasternak reported from Washington and Meyer from Boston. Times staff writers Josh Getlin in New York and Jessica Garrison, Daniel Hernandez and Greg Krikorian in Los Angeles contributed to this report.