Terrorists Will Use Weapons of Mass Destruction

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned today that terrorist states will inevitably be able to attack the United States with weapons of mass destruction.

"Let there be no doubt, it is only a matter of time before terrorist states armed with weapons of mass destruction develop the capability to deliver those weapons to U.S. cities, giving them the ability to try to hold America hostage to nuclear blackmail," Mr. Rumsfeld told senators at a hearing on the Pentagon budget. "With the power and reach of weapons today, we have little margin for error and we need defenses that can deter and defend against such attacks."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/po...ND-TERROR.html

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Ridge: Intelligence on Terror Vague

New terror warnings have not prompted U.S. officials to raise the nationwide alert status because the intelligence on possible attacks is too vague, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Tuesday.

For example, predictions that terrorists may target unnamed apartment buildings wasn't enough to change the alert from ``yellow'' -- the third highest of five stages -- and retain the system's credibility, he said.

``It wasn't actionable in the sense that we're going to change a national level of awareness, but it was informational,'' Ridge told the World Economic Forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Faced with criticism for belatedly releasing terrorist information it had before the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration may routinely release intelligence information, he added.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...-Warnings.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 05-21-2002).]