“Something I’ve said repeatedly . . . is we have to watch Europe because the growth of home-grown terrorism over there creates a vulnerability for those who might use Europe as a platform into the United States.” – Michael Chertoff
TIMESONLINE: US intelligence chiefs held a White House summit yesterday to discuss a classified report that concluded that al-Qaeda is now stronger than at any time since September 11, 2001.
Details of the five-page document, entitled “Al-Qaeda better positioned to strike the West”, were leaked amid growing signs that America is nervous about the prospect of another terrorist attack. There was particular concern that Europeans could be used to launch such operations.
Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary, has spent days trying to play down comments that his “gut feeling” was that the US faced a heightened risk of attack this summer.
Yesterday a flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to New York after a crew member became suspicious of one of the passengers, who had been seen bypassing security by travelling on an employee-only bus.
Mr Chertoff emphasised yesterday that “we don’t have any specific information about an imminent or near-term attack on the homeland”. However, The Times has been told that US and British intelligence services monitoring al-Qaeda networks have picked up “an increased level of chatter” in recent weeks. Al-Qaeda terror threat ‘at its highest since 9/11’ (more)
Mark Alexander
