Terror still a no-show on US soil

Intelligence and law-enforcement officials both here and abroad say they continue to pick up specific threat information through electronic eavesdropping and interrogations of detained terrorists. Some of the intercepted conversations mention specific flight numbers, but do not include sufficient detail to piece together entire plots.

Still, officials say, if they receive the information, it's better to err on the side of caution. "There is some intelligence that has provided names or country locations or flights that could be problematic," says a US law-enforcement official. "It's never been this intense, in terms of security. But as long as it continues to be a viable threat, even though we've taken security precautions against a lot of this, we have to act on it."

Security, of course, was ratcheted up during the holidays last year, too. But it was a different threat. Most of the "chatter" then was about five individuals who were planning to cross the Canada-US border to carry out a hit, according to the federal official. "That turned out to be inaccurate," he says. "But you have got to work with the information given you...."

The amount of information has exploded, officials say, partly due to enhanced collection capabilities, but also because of increased cooperation between foreign governments and the US. Some 90 countries are now sharing intelligence in the war on terror.

Much of that has led to enhanced security in the US, particularly at borders, nuclear power plants, and airports. But, experts point out, terrorists are likely to continue to try to identify weaknesses in the security net. Even the day before the 9/11 attacks, a group of the hijackers passed through security at Dulles airport just to "check it out."

Authorities say the best way to counter terror activities is to use a variety of tools to keep would-be attackers off balance - like the closer scrutiny now being given to international flights.

"That sends a powerful message to our enemies," says Mr. Hoffman. "It shows we haven't grown complacent and are still willing to do what we need to do to protect ourselves."

One reason for the focus on air travel is because planes remain the weapon of choice among terrorists for a strike in this country, experts say. They maintain that a hijacking or turning an aircraft into a missile would allow Al Qaeda to both make a political statement and inflict the kind of economic and psychological damage it wants.

Suicide bombings, the preferred tool in the Middle East, is difficult to do here, in part because so many Muslims are now under surveillance. "Al Qaeda continues to be interested in airplanes," says a US government official. "They go to things that have been successful in the past and that have the potential for carrying out a spectacular attack."

Some experts suggest that, without an attack in the US soon, Al Qaeda could start to lose credibility in the Muslim world. That's just one more reason, all agree, that this is no time for complacency.

"Al Qaeda carries out attacks on its schedule," says an intelligence official. "The 9/11 attack and the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen were in the works for several years. We expect they have others in the planning stages waiting to go operational."

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