My comments above are not meant to suggest anything should have been done differently; rather to suggest how difficult it is to counter this conflict effectively.
U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies have been on heightened alert since Wednesday, when authorities first learned of a suspected plot involving one or more car bombs in New York and Washington timed around Sunday’s 9/11 anniversary.
Agents have been looking for three people allegedly involved, but officials said on Sunday it remained unclear whether the car-bomb plot was actually under way or if they were chasing a false lead intended to trip up U.S. security and scare Americans.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, said on Fox News Sunday that the administration was taking the threat very seriously. “I want everything to be done to find out whether this information from these sources has any credibility to it,” he said.
The car-bomb tip was obtained by U.S. intelligence officials from a source in Afghanistan who has been reliable in the past, officials said.
The source told the Americans that al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, believed to be in Pakistan, approved the plot. But U.S. officials stressed that the information has yet to be corroborated. Mr. Zawahiri took the reins of al Qaeda after the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden in May.
Underlining heightened concerns about the threat, Mr. Obama huddled Saturday with his national-security team to assess the latest threat information. At the meeting, Mr. Obama said the U.S. couldn’t afford to “relax its counterterrorism efforts in the weeks and months that follow” the anniversary on Sunday, reflecting concerns that attacks could still be in the works.
In addition to the suspected car-bomb plot linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan, U.S. authorities believe Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has ambitions for its own attacks.
On Sunday, top officials from various departments and agencies involved in counterterrorism and law enforcement met again at the White House to review information on the threat.
The suspected car-bomb plot spurred law-enforcement officials late last week to roll out extra security precautions, including vehicle checkpoints in New York, where police officers were scrutinizing trucks and vans.
New York also beefed up the number of state troopers at the World Trade Center site, Pennsylvania Station, Grand Central Terminal and the region’s bridges and tunnels.
Many of the security measures were already planned around Sunday’s Sept. 11 anniversary but some measures were stepped up in response to the threat, which was first reported Thursday.
In the wake of the raid that killed bin Laden in May, the U.S. has characterized the threat from al Qaeda’s central leadership in Pakistan as waning.
But a counterterrorism official said the information the U.S. received about the suspected car-bomb plot raised alarm bells because of its level of specificity.
The source in Afghanistan gave the U.S. a description of the individuals involved, their tactics, target locations and the plot’s timing for the days immediately before or after Sunday’s anniversary.
Even as they search for leads in the investigation, authorities don’t have enough information about the three described individuals to know their true identities. While multiple officials have said the original source of the information provided highly detailed information about the plot, the details about the alleged plotters is frustratingly vague, U.S. officials said.
Officials have repeatedly said the information remained unconfirmed and could be an al Qaeda attempt to misdirect the U.S., or the operatives could have overstated their capabilities. U.S. officials had said that in the limited time left before the 10th anniversary on Sunday, they might not be able to verify the intelligence.
