Officials: Financial targets face NO IMMEDIATE THREAT

From the Bush administration
Department of OH, NEVER MIND...

Officials: Financial targets face no immediate threat

By Kevin Johnson and Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The major U.S. financial institutions identified in a recently disclosed al-Qaeda surveillance operation are not believed to be at imminent risk of attack, two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.

Although U.S. authorities continue to analyze a raft of detailed information outlining terrorist reconnaissance work at five financial centers in New York, Newark, N.J., and Washington, D.C., the material does not point to an existing plan of attack, said the law enforcement officials, who asked not to be identified because the matter remains under investigation.

--snip--

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who disclosed the surveillance operations Sunday as the basis for raising the terror alert level for the financial services sector in the three cities, said there was "no evidence" of any recent reconnaissance and acknowledged that much of it "might be two or three years old."

But Ridge defended the administration's decision to raise the alert level, saying that the potential threat information was so detailed that he believed it was appropriate to alert the public and the five targeted financial institutions: the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington; Citigroup and the New York Stock Exchange in New York; and Prudential Plaza in Newark. LINK

It's obvious that these clowns put a poll in the field as soon as they issued that...

ORANGE ALERT!

THE WOLF IS COMING!

THE SKY IS FALLING!

... terrorism warning Sunday afternoon.

Results must have been disappointing.

I wonder how much it costs these city governments every time Tom Ridge trots out to the microphone.