22 December 2003

Bush Meets At White House with Homeland Security Council, December 22, 2003

(Excerpts from White House Report: national security/terrorism)

President Bush discussed the nation's security December 22 at a White House meeting with his Homeland Security Council -- the group of high level officials that coordinates the policies and functions of the U.S. government relating to the security of the country.

The day before, the group, which includes the Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, made a consensus recommendation that the terrorist threat warning level be raised from elevated to high -- from yellow to orange, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters, and Bush agreed with that recommendation.

The intelligence community, the press secretary said, "has received a substantial increase in volume of threat-related intelligence reports. There are a number of credible sources that suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond."

"[T]his is perhaps the highest level of chatter that we have seen," in the post-September 11, 2001, era, McClellan said.

"There's still information that indicates that terrorists abroad are anticipating attacks that they believe will rival or exceed the scope and impact of those we experienced on September 11th, and recent reporting continues to reiterate that al Qaeda seeks to use aircraft as a weapon in suicide-type attacks," the press secretary said.

"And certainly Secretary Ridge pointed out that acquiring and using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials remains a top al Qaeda objective. And I think it is for all these reasons the decision was made, and the president agreed with that decision," said McClellan.

"[W]e've been very fortunate that there hasn't been an attack on the homeland since September 11th. But we cannot rest. We must continue carrying out the war on terrorism and taking the fight to the enemy," he said.

Secretary Ridge told reporters as he left the meeting with the president that "it was very important for me to report to you the president's convening of the Homeland Security Council, our review with the president of the specific actions that we've undertaken at the federal level. Operations centers are up across the board -- DOD [Department of Defense], FBI, Homeland Security."

The federal government, with its partners at the state and local level, "are on the alert, are working 24/7 [24 hours a day/7 days a week]," he said.

But he said people should not interrupt their Christmas or other holiday plans.

"[O]ne of the things we focused on in the meeting today was an understanding by everyone, from the president on down, that this is a period of celebration. These are holidays.

"They're cultural holidays. They're religious holidays. There are public gatherings in major urban areas around the country, big celebrations, Times Square, Las Vegas, L.A., football games, you name it. And we encourage people to be vigilant and be aware," but let the security professionals, the law enforcement community, federal, state and local officials take care of the security, Ridge said.