Major US cities unaware of new terror plot

10.40am

NEW YORK - Officials in major US cities from New York to Los Angeles said they had not been informed of any heightened security concern despite the government's announcement on Wednesday of possible domestic terror attacks in the coming months.

The mixed signals and lack of communication between Washington and key states highlight a need for a better system to boost public confidence when security alerts are issued, the top homeland security expert at the investigative arm of the US Congress said.

"Many people think the current system of relaying threat alerts to the public could be improved," said Randall Yim, head of homeland security and justice team at the General Accounting Office. "Many times the intelligence information simply isn't detailed enough."

"When the chiefs of police in major cities are not informed about the current threat, it undermines the system."

Such confusion was evident in statements from officials across America, even as Bush administration officials warned of a terrorist attack this summer.

"We are receiving highly sensitive intelligence information on a regular basis, including today, and there is nothing in that reporting to indicate a specific threat or looming attack against New York City," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement.

"Nor have we been advised that terrorists are known to be in the United States actively plotting such an attack," Kelly said, adding he was operating on the presumption that "it is still the desire of al Qaeda to target New York City."

New York hosts the Republican National Convention in late August and early September, when President Bush will be nominated to run for re-election. Other major summer events include the opening of a World War II memorial this weekend in Washington, the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia, in June, the Fourth of July holiday and the Democratic convention in Boston in July.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news briefing that those events were "attractive targets" for al Qaeda.

"Credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," Ashcroft said.

Philadelphia officials said they had no knowledge of any new threat. Asked if the city was informed about Washington's latest warning, the city's managing director, Philip Goldsmith, said, "No, not as far as I know."

And the Los Angeles Police Department's No. 2 official, Jim McDonnell, said he had not been contacted by Washington. "No information has been given to me as to the time, place or method of attack."

The GAO's Yim said he has pressed Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to develop a better system to relay how specific a threat is, where an attack might occur and when it might happen to allow law enforcement to inform the public in a confidence-boosting manner.

David Heyman, director of homeland security at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, said he expected "an abundance of warnings" before November's US presidential election.

"The administration is captivated by the Madrid syndrome -- namely that terrorists will attack before the election to affect the outcome," he said, referring to the March 11 train bombings in Spain just days before an election in which voters then turned out the incumbent prime minister.

- REUTERS