15 February 2003
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/15/politics/15TERR.html
The New York Times, February 15, 2003
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — The Bush administration tried today to calm a jittery public after a week of heightened terrorism warnings, with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge saying that "we just don't want folks sealing up their doors or sealing up their windows." Senior administration officials said the government had received no new intelligence in recent days to suggest an imminent attack.
Clearly worried that some people had gone too far in responding to the government's recommendation this week that they buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal doors in the event of a biochemical attack, Mr. Ridge said he wanted to remind the public that the emergency supplies should be kept ready — but not used.
"I want to make something very, very clear," he said at a news conference. "God forbid there may come a time when the local authorities or national authorities or someone will tell you that you've got to use them."
President Bush also joined the effort to quell the anxiety created by last week's decision to raise the national terrorism alert level to "high" and the government's advice on Monday that families prepare a home disaster kit that included a flashlight, a can opener and bottled water.
In a speech at F.B.I. headquarters in which he announced a major reorganization of the bureau and the C.I.A., moving their counterterrorism divisions into a single location, Mr. Bush said the government was taking "unprecedented measures to protect the American people."
"There is no such thing as perfect security against a hidden network of cold-blooded killers," he said. "Yet abroad and at home, we're not going to wait until the worst dangers are upon us.
"We're trying to protect you. We're doing everything in our power to make sure the homeland is secure."
Senior administration officials said there was some hope that the period of gravest danger of new wave terrorist attacks, the final days of the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage, had passed. They said the intelligence that led to the decision on Feb. 7 to raise the terrorism alert level had suggested that attacks might be timed to the end of the Hajj, which was Thursday.
"We can't let our guard down, we won't let our guard down, but there is sense of relief that we've gotten through this week," said an official, who would speak only on the condition of not being named.
The government's alarm grew earlier in the week when the Arabic-language satellite television network al Jazeera broadcast an audiotape that appeared to be from Osama bin Laden, in which the speaker expressed solidarity with Iraq in the face of a threatened American invasion and called for suicide attacks against American targets.
An administration official said tonight that a technical review of the tape by the C.I.A. and other American intelligence agencies concluded that the voice was "almost certainly" that of Mr. bin Laden, the Qaeda leader.
At his news conference Mr. Ridge said, "We have not received any additional intelligence that would lead us to either raise or lower the threat level at this time."
"I would like to remind everyone again that the information we have to work with, more often than not, is very vague," he said. "It does not tell us when, where or how a terrorist might harm us again. I assure you, however, that if we get detailed, credible intelligence that we can act upon, we will certainly let the appropriate authorities know."
Democrats ridiculed the administration this week for dispensing home-safety advice that centered on buying duct tape and plastic sheeting, and some Republicans in the Senate were also critical of how the situation was handled.
The Democrats said that what was really needed was billions of dollars in new spending for domestic security.
In a joint letter today to Mr. Bush, the House and Senate Democrat leaders, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Thomas Daschle of South Dakota, said it was "indefensible that you have not made funding for homeland security your top priority."
"Republicans have sought to explain their opposition to these measures by claiming that additional investments in homeland security are unaffordable," they said. "We reject this contention, especially in light of your plans to spend $1.5 trillion on new tax breaks that mainly benefit the very wealthy."
The White House appeared to be feeling some pressure from the attacks, which have been most pointed among the potential Democratic presidential candidates.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, tried to distance the administration from elements of the 2003 budget package approved this week by the Republican majorities in Congress.
Mr. Fleischer noted that the spending plan did not provide state and local governments with all the $3.5 billion that President Bush had sought for police departments, fire departments and other emergency-response agencies that would be called on to respond to a terrorist attack.
"The funding levels that Congress has passed are doing more and are providing additional resources — but not enough and not the right way," he said, adding that the White House tabulation showed that only about $1.3 billion would go to the state and local governments for domestic security efforts.
Although Republican Congressional negotiators have labeled $3.5 billion in the budget as domestic security financing, Mr. Fleischer said that most of the money was actually earmarked for local projects, like special narcotics courts, that are "not part of the war on terrorism."
"The president would like Congress to do more to help provide funding" in next year's budget, Mr. Fleischer said, noting that Mr. Bush had requested another $3.5 billion for the state and local governments in the 2004 budget request.
On Capitol Hill, the Senate Republican leader, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, joined with the administration today in trying to play down the possibility of a widespread chemical or biological attack on the United States.
Donning what he called his "physician's hat," Dr. Frist, the only doctor in the Senate and the author of a recent book on the threat posed by biological and chemical weapons, said the risk to public health from an attack remained low, despite the confusing and frightening suggestions of others in the government.
"The overall risk of biological agents or chemical agents being used successfully as agents of mass destruction in this country is small," he said. "But the threat is real."
He appeared to contradict some of the information provided earlier this week by the administration, saying that not everyone needed a disaster supply kit, recommending them only for those who lived near a highly visible potential target.
Dr. Frist also suggested that the interests of public health would be better served if people paid attention to more obvious threats to their physical well-being, including stress.
"Play cards, play bridge or take part in something that's larger than just yourself," he advised his colleagues on the Senate floor. "Exercise regularly, eat well and get a good night's rest."