Intelligence experts and the FBI are expressing heightened concern about potential terrorist attacks timed to coincide with the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage Muslims make to Mecca.
The three-day holy period begins Sunday. As we all know, terrorist activity frequently coincides with religious holidays or significant days in history.
Recent intelligence, coupled with the Muslim holy days, could lead to an increase in the “threat level” for the nation’s terrorism alert system, according to U.S. government officials. It now stands at yellow, or elevated.
FBI to Present Terrorism Assessment to Congress Next Week
Al-Qaida is weakened and scattered but remains the top threat to commit terrorist attacks in the United States, the FBI says in a first-of-its-kind national assessment for Congress scheduled for next week. The study also says there are other Muslim extremist groups engaged in a “jihad,” or holy war, against the US and other Western countries. Some of them provide “varying degrees of support” to al-Qaida, according to the report. The central conclusion is that “al-Qaida led by Osama bin Laden remains, for the foreseeable future, the most serious threat against the United States.”
The report cites various U.S. intelligence sources as evidence that al-Qaida operatives around the world continue to discuss large-scale strikes against the United States. Al-Qaida continues to be actively attempting to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear weapons, the report adds.
It is unknown at this time whether the report discussed a heightened threat due to the possible war with Iraq. German Interior Minister Otto Schily, his country’s top counterterrorism official, told reporters Wednesday that such a war would inflame Muslim extremists worldwide and increase the terror threat. Schily told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that the “strength of al-Qaida groups is as high as it was before Sept. 11, maybe also a little bit more than before.”
The FBI assessment, most of which is classified, will be delivered to members of the House and Senate intelligence committees next week by FBI Director Robert Mueller. Originally promised in 2000, a version was completed just a day before the Sept. 11 terror attacks and has since been rewritten amid criticism from Capitol Hill for the delay.
Police1 will provide an assessment of the report when additional information is available next week.