addressed only threats outside the United States.
from anything they had done to date.
ures. This committee met on July 9, when 37 officials from 27 agencies and
organizations were briefed on the "current threat level" in the United States.
They were told that not only the threat reports from abroad but also the recent
convictions in the East Africa bombings trial, the conviction of Ahmed
Ressam, and the just-returned Khobar Towers indictments reinforced the need
to "exercise extreme vigilance." Attendees were expected to determine
whether their respective agencies needed enhanced security measures.
items he mentioned was the need, in light of increased threat reporting, to have
evidence response teams ready to move at a moment's notice, in case of an
attack.
rupt any such plots.
lead item for CSG discussion was still the al Qaeda threat, and it included men-
tion of suspected terrorist travel to the United States.
bian Peninsula and/or Israel." It stated that the FAA had no credible evidence
of specific plans to attack U.S. civil aviation, though it noted that some of the
"currently active" terrorist groups were known to "plan and train for hijack-
ings" and were able to build and conceal sophisticated explosive devices in lug-
gage and consumer products.
contained an article titled "Bin Ladin Threats Are Real." Yet Hadley told Tenet
in July that Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned the report-
ing. Perhaps Bin Ladin was trying to study U.S. reactions.Tenet replied that he
had already addressed the Defense Department's questions on this point; the
reporting was convincing.To give a sense of his anxiety at the time, one senior