President Bush on Monday launched an effort to increase scrutiny of people trying to enter the country as well as non-citizens already living here, while other administration officials warned of the possibility of a new terrorist attack this week.
U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller issued an alert Monday afternoon that an attack of an unspecified nature may be attempted this week somewhere in the U.S. or against American interests abroad.
“The administration views this information as credible, but unfortunately it does not contain specific information as to the type of attack or specific target,” said Ashcroft, who put 18,000 law-enforcement agencies across the country on high alert.
“We urge Americans in the course of their normal activities to remain alert and to report unusual circumstances or inappropriate behavior to the proper authorities,” Ashcroft said.
The warning came shortly after Bush appointed a task force to examine how immigration laws can be tightened to prevent would-be terrorists from entering the country or quickly deported if they already are here. Some of the 19 terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings that killed thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania entered the country legally or were staying here on expired visas.
Bush, who championed looser immigration laws as Texas governor and early in his presidency, said Monday that the government may clamp down on student exchanges, work and study visas and other programs that give foreigners a chance to live in America.
“We welcome legal immigrants and we welcome people coming to America,” Bush said. “What we don’t welcome are people who come to hurt the American people, and so therefore we’re going to be very diligent with our visas and observant with the behavior of people who come to this country.”
A little more than a month ago, Bush was in negotiations with Mexican President Vicente Fox over how to rewrite American immigration laws to allow more Mexicans now living illegally in the U.S. to gain legal status. Those talks have since moved to the back burner.
The appointment of the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force was part of a flurry of activity at the White House that appeared to be a response to critics who last week were calling the administration’s war on the home front haphazard and ineffective.
Bush chaired the first meeting of his Homeland Security Council, at which he announced the task force’s creation. He also dispatched his new homeland security director, Tom Ridge, to give regular media briefings on the state of the homeland defense. The White House also announced it was filling out Ridge’s West Wing staff.
“The American people need to know that we are doing everything we possibly can to prevent and disrupt any attack on America, and that we’re doing everything we can to respond to attacks,” Bush said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who is spearheading the public health response to the anthrax attacks, said the administration wants to reassure Americans that it is on the job.
“We understand that people are very concerned about anthrax,” Thompson said. “We’re going to continue to respond with the personnel, the expertise and the medicine necessary to deal with these acts and threats of bioterrorism.
“We know we have to get stronger,” Thompson said. “And we’re working with Congress to [achieve that] as soon as possible.”
Monday’s surge of activity lent an air of urgency to the administration’s efforts on the home front.
No progress in anthrax probe
White House officials, however, acknowledged that no progress has been made in the search for those responsible for the latest attacks — the mail-borne anthrax spores that already have killed three people and left at least 12 others ill.
Bush, saying “the country understands that we’ve entered into a new period in our history,” declared America must retain the openness that sets it apart from so many other nations but remain vigilant about those who seek to enter the U.S. with terrorist intentions.
Open society `vulnerable’
Ridge called America “uniquely vulnerable” to attack given the nature of its society.
“If you’re open and you’re accessible and you’re diverse and you’re trusting, you could imagine the challenges,” Ridge said.
The new task force, will “look at all options, all policies and procedures relating to access of non-citizens to this country,” Ridge said, “Whether or not that requires any change to the law, that remains to be seen.”
The alert issued Monday by Ashcroft and Mueller was the second such warning since Oct. 10.
The previous alert, which cautioned of a possible attack over the next “several days,” was roundly criticized for its vagueness. Everyone from police chiefs to ordinary citizens complained that they were unclear on what actions they were supposed to take.
The FBI still has no idea whether the Oct. 10 threat led to the anthrax attacks or if it was averted by enhanced vigilance.
Ashcroft and Mueller appeared to recognize that Monday’s alert was likely to draw similar complaints.
After addressing a group of police chiefs Monday afternoon, Mueller said, “I know how difficult it is for the officers they represent, and all other state and local officers out there, to respond without greater detail. Even given that, I believe it is advisable to alert law-enforcement and local authorities as to what knowledge we have received.”
Mueller insisted the earlier alert may have succeeded. “It is very difficult to tell, but it may well have helped to avert such an attack,” he said.
Ashcroft suggested it would be irresponsible not to tell the public of a threat once law enforcement learned of it. He said he is not concerned that people will stop taking them seriously if no attacks materialize.
“If people take these warnings seriously, they go about their lives, but they participate with patience in the additional steps that are taken by law-enforcement authorities, they are very likely participating in the prevention of terrorism and in the disruption of terrorism,” the attorney general said.
In Illinois, Homeland Security Coordinator Matthew Bettenhausen said the state would take an already heightened security and “ratchet it up a little bit more” following the alert. While no specific threat was made to Illinois, Bettenhausen said the state would increase patrols of law-enforcement agencies.
As with the last alert, Justice Department officials refused to divulge what sort of intelligence prompted the action.
