WAR ON TERRORISM 'Chatter' levels spark warning

The intercepted communications have few specifics, however.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. officials are telling holiday travelers to be vigilant about the threat of terrorist attacks, a warning prompted in part by a raised level of ominous intercepted communications that hasn't quieted for months.
The significance of the sustained level of intelligence "chatter" is unclear, the officials said.
Homeland Security officials said they did not expect the national threat warning to be raised from yellow -- the midpoint on its five-color scale -- to orange unless more specific intelligence was received.
Usual pattern
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, analysts have observed a pattern of spikes in the chatter and other threat intelligence suggesting possible new assaults. Those spikes were always followed by periods of relative calm.
But since late summer, that pattern has been broken. The threat intelligence has poured in at a sustained rate, officials said, but it has been frustratingly short of specifics -- no credible information to suggest a time, target or method of attack.
"The Department of Homeland Security remains very concerned about the volume of reporting of threats against U.S. interests both here and abroad," spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. "We continue to encourage our homeland security professionals to be on a heightened state of alert, especially as we enter this busy holiday travel period."
Intelligence officials said they don't know what to make of the new pattern in threat chatter -- a shorthand term that describes intercepted communications and other intelligence.
The change could mean an attack is in the offing, officials acknowledged.
But it could, instead, be the product of terrorists' efforts to scare people and fool the warning system by making false threats over communications channels, on the assumption that U.S. intelligence will hear them.
Or it could mean nothing at all, the officials said. Some increases in chatter have not been associated with attempted terrorist strikes.
Possible targets
Much of the threat information suggests attacks directed at U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, officials said. The State Department recommended this week that its nonessential diplomatic personnel as well as diplomatic families leave the Saudi kingdom, and a defense official said threat information pointed toward an attack in the next six weeks.
Suicide bombers with links to Al-Qaida struck last month in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
But U.S. officials also think there is a domestic threat from Al-Qaida operatives in the United States.
One senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said analysts are particularly concerned about the threat of Sept. 11-style attacks, in which terrorists would use hijacked airliners as weapons.
A recent warning also was issued about a possible strike using a fuel tanker truck.
Over the past six months, Homeland Security, fearful of spooking Americans unnecessarily, has become more resistant to raising the terror alert level when the general threat information increases.
Still, officials described the intelligence as a reminder to holiday travelers and security personnel to remain vigilant.
Al-Qaida statement
On Friday, the Arabic television network Al Jazeera aired a new statement from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the chief deputy of Osama bin Laden. The CIA said it was working to authenticate the statement.
"We are still chasing the Americans and their allies everywhere, even in their homeland," the voice purported to be al-Zawahiri's said.
The speaker on the tape, whose voice resembled al-Zawahiri's, mentioned a visit to Iraq by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz -- which took place in late October. The speaker did not mention last weekend's capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The speaker also denied that the resistance U.S. troops are facing in Iraq comes mainly from Saddam loyalists. He said the resistance fighters were "holy warriors."
"It is a real and authentic holy war of the Iraqi people," he said.
The speaker noted that two years have passed since the battle of Tora Bora, a major clash between U.S.-led forces and Al-Qaida fighters in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
Reference to U.S. leader
"Two years after Tora Bora, the American bloodshed started to increase in Iraq, and the Americans have become unable to defend themselves or even defend their big criminals such as Wolfowitz," he said.
He was referring to an Oct. 26 rocket attack that barraged the Baghdad hotel where Wolfowitz was staying. A U.S. colonel was killed in that attack, and Wolfowitz escaped unharmed.
Al Jazeera's newscaster quoted the tape as saying: "Those renegades who offered the Americans military bases and support to kill Muslims should prepare for the day of settling scores because the Americans are ready to flee."