The Bush administration lowered the national terror threat alert level from high to elevated on today, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced, but he stressed that the United States was not letting down its guard.
Ridge said in a news conference that “added vigilance and security” will remain in “certain locales and certain areas within the private sector.”
Sources said that those sectors include aviation, key ports and some nuclear plants, as well as cities such as Washington, Las Vegas, New York o which has been on high alert since September 11 o and possibly Los Angeles.
Ridge refused to elaborate.
“We don’t want to broadcast to everybody where we’re going to be doing this, but those areas and elements within the private sector, they have already been contacted and they understand that for the time being we want to maintain a similar level of security,” Ridge said.
Officials were “still concerned about continuing threats,” but the conditions that led to the decision to raise the alert level from “yellow” to “orange” had passed, Ridge said.
“I know that we are all thankful that nothing happened. The holidays have passed. The potential danger that large gatherings present during the holidays has passed. They passed safely and without incident,” he said.
Raising the threat level serves as a deterrent and the increased security can disrupt potential terrorist operations, Ridge said, adding that it could be weeks or months before authorities determine whether any attacks were actually prevented.
“Let me emphasize that, although we’ve returned to yellow, we have not let our guard down,” he said. “Yellow still means that we are at an elevated risk of attack.”
When the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level last month from yellow to orange, it warned that al Qaeda may use international flights to launch attacks on the United States.
The move followed a “substantial increase” in intelligence pointing to possible al Qaeda attacks, Ridge said at the time.
Source: CNN; DHS; White House Press Office