[iwar] [fc:FBI.Studies.Tip.About.Terror.Attack]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-25 18:57:02


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:FBI.Studies.Tip.About.Terror.Attack]
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FBI Studies Tip About Terror Attack

By LARRY MARGASAK
.c The Associated Press
  
WASHINGTON (AP) - An informant whose tip prompted the FBI to warn of an
impending terror attack may have been speaking of the subsequent anthrax
attacks that have kept the nation on edge, the FBI director says. 

Director Robert Mueller told the U.S.  Conference of Mayors he has no
hard evidence linking the Oct.  11 warning to anthrax.  Still, he raised
the possibility Wednesday while defending the alert, a sudden decision
that was second-guessed by some local officials because of its
vagueness. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft was to address the mayors' conference
Thursday. 

As the nation struggled to keep its mail system safe from anthrax,
Mueller also warned the government would respond severely to hoaxes. 

That message was felt in Kentucky, were two college students were
arrested for a hoax that halted postal service in the town of Murray
after white powder spilled from an envelope.  Preliminary tests
indicated the substance was powdered sugar, Murray Postmaster Mark
Kennedy said Wednesday. 

Amy Wood, 22, of Benton, Ky., and Erin Creighton, 21, of Morganfield,
Ky., both students at Murray State University, were arrested Tuesday. 
They intended to send the letter to friends, Murray Police Capt.  Eddie
Rollins said. 

The FBI's Oct.  11 warning said the bureau had received information of
the possibility of additional terror attacks against Americans inside
the United States or abroad in the next several days.  The bureau said
its information did not identify specific targets, but it asked local
police to be on the highest alert and for all Americans to be wary of
suspicious activity. 

``It is conceivable, although there is no evidence necessarily to
support it, that the advent of the anthrax attacks is what this source
was talking about,'' Mueller said in response to a comment by a
participant at the mayors' conference.  ``I must emphasize, there is no
evidence ...  that the anthrax attacks were a result of organized
terrorism.''

Mueller was told the mayors heard strong reactions from constituents
after the alert, because schools and emergency officials were unsure how
to react to the nonspecific threat.  The director said the FBI could
have done a better job of providing advance notice to local bureau
directors, who could then have contacted state and local officials
before the alert was made public. 

``Whether or not we made the right decision in putting out the alert, I
don't know if we would ever know,'' Mueller said. 

``At this point, it is not clear if the few confirmed anthrax exposures
were motivated by organized terrorism,'' Mueller said.  ``But these
attacks were clearly meant to terrorize a country already on the edge. 
We're responding swiftly to each and every incident.''

Dr.  Jeffrey Koplan, head of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, said in a television interview that despite studies by
federal labs, he was unable to tell if the anthrax spores found at
various sites in the United States came from the same place. 

Dr.  Stephen Ostroff, an epidemiologist with the CDC, said the anthrax
from a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle had
``exceptionally good dispersible capability,'' indicating whoever sent
it had a scientific background. 

``You have to assume whoever is doing this knew what they were doing,''
he said Thursday on NBC's ``Today.''

While U.S.  officials were dealing largely with anthrax, Pakistani
officials said they may have made a breakthrough in tracing movements of
individuals related to the Sept.  11 airline hijackings. 

Three Western nationals of Arab origin, including one linked to hijacker
Mohamed Atta, came to Pakistan shortly before the attacks and may have
slipped into Afghanistan, the security officials said Wednesday. 

The three were identified by the officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, as Said Bahaji, a German-Moroccan sought by Germany on an
international arrest warrant; Abdullah Hussainy, a Belgian of Algerian
origin; and Ammar Moula, a French citizen. 

Ashcroft said Bahaji had extensive connections to Atta and fellow
hijacker Marwan Al-Shehhi, who were on the flights that crashed into the
World Trade Center's Twin Towers. 

On the Net:

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov

Justice Department: <a
href="http://www.usdoj.gov">http://www.usdoj.gov>

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