WAR ON TERRORISM Leaders declare unity of efforts

The decision not to raise the terror alert level raised speculation about dissent.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge issued a joint statement saying their agencies are cooperating closely to deal with a rising Al-Qaida threat. It was an attempt to blunt criticism that Americans are getting a mixed message from the agencies.
"We are working together, and we will take all necessary actions to protect the American people," including increasing the color-coded terrorism threat level if warranted, Ridge and Ashcroft said Friday.
Ridge was notably absent from a news conference Wednesday by Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller to detail what they said was a continuing flow of intelligence indicating a strong possibility Al-Qaida would attack America sometime in the coming months.
Unnecessary fear?
Some members of Congress with access to the same intelligence reports said the announcement by Ashcroft and Mueller was overblown and caused unnecessary public worry.
Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the Ashcroft-Mueller news conference mistakenly led some to think the nation's threat level had been increased. He called it "regrettable" that Ridge did not join Ashcroft and Mueller.
"Their separate public appearances left the impression that the broad and close interagency consultation we expect -- and which the law requires -- may not have taken place in this case," Cox said.
Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and Bush administration rules, only the Department of Homeland Security can publicly issue threat warnings, and they must be approved in a complex interagency process involving the White House.
Administration officials sympathetic to Ridge said he was not informed Ashcroft was going to characterize the threat in that way -- an assertion Justice officials deny.
Ridge said Friday there is no turf war or disagreement between his agency and the Justice Department over threat warnings.
"We communicate every day. We talk every day. We collaborate our efforts every day," Ridge said. "Whatever we can do to put that unfortunate story to rest, we need to do it immediately."
Occasional disagreements
Although publicly professing only collegiality and cooperation, Ridge and Ashcroft have occasionally struggled for two years. They argued for months over whether Homeland Security agents should investigate terrorism financing, and last year Ridge agreed they could do it only under the FBI's lead.
The White House played down the turf battle. Deputy White House communications director Brian Besanceney said Mueller, Ashcroft and Ridge, who meet with President Bush every day, "discussed this issue with the president on more than one occasion, and they agreed on the strategy and the seriousness of the threat. There was agreement on the way forward."
Law enforcement and intelligence officials say they are worried Al-Qaida might try to time attacks to coincide with next month's G-8 economic summit in Georgia, the Democratic National Convention in July in Boston or the Republican National Convention in August in New York. The summer Olympics in Greece are also seen as a prime possible target.
The political fallout from the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, which contributed to the election defeat of Spain's governing party and withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, is considered an indicator that Al-Qaida might attempt to influence this year's U.S. elections through an attack.
'Steady stream'
Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse reiterated Thursday that his agency has not seen any change in the "steady stream of threat reporting."
"We do not have any new intelligence or specific information about Al-Qaida planning an attack," he said.
Cassandra Chandler, assistant FBI director for public affairs, acknowledged intelligence about the threat has been coming in for some time. However, she said it now is being backed by a higher degree of corroboration and that its sheer volume was noteworthy.
She said the announcement was intended to demonstrate to Americans and the world that the FBI was focused on trying to thwart an attack. "This clearly demonstrates our commitment to prevention," Chandler said.
2001 response
Publicity about the threat and the accompanying plea for the public's help in apprehending seven suspected Al-Qaida terrorists are a stark contrast to the FBI's actions in the summer of 2001, when intelligence officials warned President Bush of terror threats in an Aug. 6 memo called "Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S."
Testimony to Congress and the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks showed the FBI lacked a national, coordinated response to those 2001 threats. Some agents in charge of FBI field offices in large cities were unaware of the magnitude of the threat, and there was no headquarters-led effort to collect counterterrorism intelligence.
This time, before making the latest public announcement, Mueller said he spoke to agents in charge of all 56 field offices about "the heightened threat" and urged them to devote whatever staffers and resources were necessary to counter it. The FBI also has a special task force to focus specifically on the threat.
"We don't want to repeat the problems we had in the summer of 2001," said Michael Greenberger, a former counterterrorism official in President Clinton's Justice Department and now a University of Maryland professor. "You have to circle the wagons and put on a full-court press. You can't just sit there waiting for actionable intelligence."
New publicity about the seven Al-Qaida suspects being sought -- six of whom have been pursued by the FBI for months -- had generated more than 2,000 tips to an FBI Web site since Wednesday afternoon. It normally receives 200 terrorism-related leads every day.
Still at yellow
One discordant note in the new terror threat announcement was the decision by the Homeland Security Department to recommend keeping the color-coded threat level at yellow, the midpoint on a five-color scale. That raised questions as to whether there was dissent in the Bush administration about how to interpret the threat intelligence.
"It is confusing that this administration would indicate that Al-Qaida is far along the road to planning a major attack in the United States but not raise the threat level," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, attributed the difference to the Justice Department's focus on law enforcement and his agency's focus on efforts to protect the country's economic and public infrastructure.
"We're well-coordinated, and we're articulating the same message," Hutchinson said.
Justice Department officials also say publicity about terror threats can deter operations, sometimes delaying them to give investigators more time to find the operatives.
"It's part of our strategy to defeat the bad guys," Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said. "It puts them on edge."