FBI urges police to watch for signs of terrorists on Fourth of July

WASHINGTON – The FBI urged police nationwide Thursday to step up patrols and watch for signs of terrorist activity during the Fourth of July weekend. Still, officials said there was no specific, credible intelligence indicating an attack was likely.

“We know the U.S. homeland remains a top al Qaeda target,” the FBI said in its weekly bulletin to 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies.

A constant stream of intelligence indicates that al Qaeda is determined to stage another major attack this summer or fall, possibly timed to one of a series of symbolic events in the United States and overseas, most notably the political conventions, national election and Olympics, but also the Fourth of July.

The FBI said police should increase patrols this holiday weekend, vary the timing, size and routes of the patrols, and make sure all vehicles illegally parked in key areas are approached and their drivers questioned.

The Homeland Security Department had no plans to raise the nation’s color-coded terror alert level above its current midpoint status of yellow, or elevated. Last week, the agency sent a bulletin urging tighter security to state and local officials and those that operate power and chemical plants and key transportation facilities.

The government’s approach to this major U.S. holiday was muted in comparison to Memorial Day, when the FBI and Attorney General John Ashcroft issued high-profile warnings that terrorists were nearly ready to strike. In Florida this week, Ashcroft repeated his contention that al Qaeda was between 75 percent and 90 percent ready to attack again.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters Thursday in Seattle that local, state and federal officials must cooperate to prevent a new terrorist attack. The lack of such cooperation, from the federal government on down, has been cited by congressional and independent investigators as a key reason the Sept. 11, 2001, plot was not detected.

The FBI bulletin cited recent intelligence that continues to show al Qaeda interest in attacking a range of facilities, including gas stations and refineries, financial and government institutions, civil aviation, nuclear plants, dams, subways and freight trains.