Thread: Threats of Terror and M.Chertoff

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_ ... _terrorism

U.S. adds marshals to overseas flights By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago



The U.S. is adding air marshals to overseas flights because of concerns about potential terrorism threats originating in Britain and Europe, the homeland security chief said Sunday.

The Bush administration said it was satisfied with its current terrorism alert level following an attack at a Scottish airport and two foiled car bombs in London.

"I think given what we know now, we're comfortable that we're at the right posture," Michael Chertoff said during a round of talk show appearances.

U.S. airports and mass transit systems are tightening security ahead of the Fourth of July holiday and more air marshals will travel on overseas flights.

"We will be doing operations at various rail locations and other mass transit locations in cooperation with local authorities. Again, not because of a specific piece of credible threat information, but because we are going into a holiday season. There will be a larger number of people traveling," Chertoff said.

Airports are at the second of five security threat levels — orange — indicating a high risk of terrorist attacks. The current national threat level is yellow, or the third highest, indicating an elevated threat.

Chertoff said he does not plan to change those levels. "At this moment we don't have a specific credible threat against the United States," he said.

Britain has raised its security alert level to the highest possible level, indicating terror attacks may be imminent.

Chertoff said he has spoken out for some time about U.S. worries involving potential terrorist threats originating in Britain and Europe.

"I think one of the issues we're increasingly concerned about is the movement of Europeans, including people with European citizenship, into areas of South Asia to get trained and get experience and then the prospect of these people coming back to carry out operations in Europe or in the United States using Europe as a departure point," Chertoff said.

"It's one of the reasons we've been very focused on increasing our security for people incoming from Europe. And that's something we're going to be looking at for the rest of the summer," he said.

The U.S. increased the number of air marshals on flights between the United States and Europe last August and stepped up the pace over the past few months, Chertoff said.

"We haven't singled out Glasgow until a couple of days ago as a particular location for focus, but there has been a strategy of mixing up the deployment of these air marshals, sometimes more in one destination, sometimes more in another destination," he said.

"Going forward, we will be doing some enhanced air marshal work and similar types of activities with respect to U.K. travel."

Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said his country was dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida. Chertoff said, "If they are comfortable in confirming that, then that's fine. I have no reason to disagree."

A burning Jeep Cherokee rammed into Glasgow's airport terminal on Saturday. The day before, police in London found two cars packed with explosives.

One of the men in the airport attack was in critical condition at a hospital with severe burns, while the other was in police custody. Kenny MacAskill, the nation's justice secretary, said the two men were not born and raised in Scotland.

"Any suggestion to be made that they are homegrown terrorists is not true," MacAskill said.

Chertoff mentioned Iraq as a place where would-be terrorists can hone their skills in preparation for possible attacks around the world.

"What I do think we see in Iraq is a laboratory for techniques where people experiment with sophisticated forms of explosive devices, and we do get concerned that that will ultimately lead to importing those kinds of techniques to the West."

Chertoff appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week," "Fox News Sunday" and "Late Edition" on CNN.

I saw only a little of this on TV this morning and have a question? Is it me or does Chertoff have an evil look to him?

Could this be the way our government is going to try and impose martial law since they didn't get their way with amnesty???

hey Jherkoff...they are walking across the borders you have swore to protect...try protecting the borders first and you will not need all the damn wiretapping...

Originally Posted by redbadger

hey Jherkoff...they are walking across the borders you have swore to protect...try protecting the borders first and you will not need all the damn wiretapping...

I saw him out fox this morning talking about national security, not one word was spoken about building the fence or border security. Common sense continues to allude these idiots, because they do not want to interfere with Bush's Agenda.

More update on the events


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070701/pl ... 0701153920
WASHINGTON (AFP) - More US air marshals are being deployed on flights to Britain after three failed terror attacks including one on Glasgow airport, US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Sunday.

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Chertoff reiterated that US authorities were stepping up security at airports and other transport hubs, but saw no "specific credible intelligence" to justify raising the national level of alert.

"Going forward, we will be doing some enhanced air marshal work and similar types of activities with respect to UK travel," he told Fox News.

Chertoff declined to comment on an ABC News report that US law enforcers received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against "airport infrastructure or aircraft."

Glasgow has not been singled out for focus "but there has been a strategy of mixing up the deployment of these air marshals, sometimes more in one destination, sometimes more in another destination," he said.

New Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain faced the threat of Al-Qaeda attacks after a blazing car tried to ram into Glasgow airport's main terminal Saturday, following two attempted car bombings in London Friday.

Early Sunday British police announced they were searching a number of homes in the Glasgow region following the airport attack which closed Scotland's busiest air hub overnight.

Police in Liverpool announced they were also searching two properties and had arrested one man, after a suspicious vehicle was found at the city's John Lennon airport Saturday night, leading to its temporary closure.

Chertoff said there were no plans to raise the official US threat level for aviation from "orange," or high, or the nationwide level from "yellow," or elevated.

"We do, however, view the summer as a period of special vulnerability based on past experience and what we've seen in terms of public discussion by Al-Qaeda," he said.

"And that's why we have taken some plans off the shelf to do some heightened security measures during this coming week at our airports and our mass transit and train stations."

The Department of Homeland Security is strengthening security measures at airports especially in view of the July 4 Independence Day holiday coming up, the White House said.

Britain has raised its security alert to "critical," the highest level, meaning an attack is expected imminently.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_ ... _terrorism

British police arrest 5th terror suspect By ROB HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 16 minutes ago



GLASGOW, Scotland - British officials intensified the hunt Sunday for what they called an al-Qaida-linked network behind three attempted terrorist attacks, announcing a fifth arrest and conducting pinpoint raids across a country on its highest level of alert.

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "it is clear that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaida." He warned Britons that the threat would be "long-term and sustained" but said the country would not cowed by the plot targeting London and Glasgow's airport.

"We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life," he said in a nationally televised interview.

A British government security official said a loose countrywide network appeared to be behind the attacks but investigators were struggling to pin down suspects' identities — even two arrested after they drove a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow's main airport terminal Saturday and set it ablaze.

"These are not the type of people who always carry identity documents, or who use their real identities," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the inquiries. "Very little has been gleaned so far from the biological data."

Neighbors of homes being raided by police in central England and Liverpool claimed the residents were doctors or medical students.

Britain's Sky News and The Sun, Daily Express and Daily Telegraph newspapers reported that two of the men arrested were hospital doctors. Police refused to comment on the claim.

The security official said police and MI5, the internal security agency, did not know if the suspects were British born, from overseas, or some combination of the two. Officials released few other details of the investigation.

Two men rammed the Jeep into the airport entrance, shattering the glass doors and igniting a raging fire. One of the suspects, his body in flames after the attack, was taken to the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital, where police on Sunday carried out a controlled explosion on a vehicle they said also could be linked to the plot.

On Friday, authorities thwarted coordinated bomb attacks in central London after an ambulance crew outside a nightclub spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes that turned out to be rigged with gasoline, gas canisters and nails. A second Mercedes filled with explosives was found hours later in an impound lot, where it was towed for parking illegally.

"We are learning a great deal about the people involved in the attacks here in Glasgow and in the attempted attacks in central London. The links between them are becoming ever clearer," said Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorist unit.

Britain raised its terror alert to critical — the highest possible level. U.S. homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said air marshals would be added to overseas flights while airports and mass transit systems would tighten security ahead of the July 4 celebrations.

President Bush said Sunday he appreciates Britain's "strong response" to the threats.

"It just goes to show the war against these extremists goes on," Bush said as he waited for Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrive at his family's home at Kennebunkport, Maine. "You never know where they may try to strike, and I appreciate the very strong response that the Gordon Brown government's given to the attempts by these people."

Most vehicles were being banned from driving into airports in Britain and air passengers told to use public transport, airline operator BAA PLC said. Random searches were being carried out on vehicles approaching railway stations, British Transport Police said.

Heathrow Airport's terminal 3 was briefly closed Sunday night after a suspicious package was found, but reopened once police confirmed the item was safe, authorities said.

Late Saturday, police arrested two people — a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman — on a highway in Cheshire, northern England, London's Scotland Yard said. On Sunday, Staffordshire police said they also searched at least one home in nearby Newcastle-Under-Lyme.

And in Liverpool late Saturday, police arrested a 26-year-old man and then searched two homes on a road near Penny Lane, made famous by the Beatles song of the same name. Officers also searched a residential area about a mile from Glasgow's airport.

Brian Harvey, a 60-year-old builder who lives on a street where a house was being searched in Glasgow, said he had seen a green sports utility vehicle parked outside the property earlier.

"I saw a green vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, it seemed unusual, strange over here," Harvey said, explaining most other vehicles on the street were more modest.

In Staffordshire, neighbors said the residents of a home raided by police included a hospital doctor, his wife and their small child.

"The gentleman living there is a hospital doctor," neighbor Daniel Robinson said. "They have been here for just over nine months."

Vigilance was already heightened ahead of the anniversary of Britain's first suicide attacks, the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings in which four British-bred Muslims killed themselves and 52 commuters on three subway trains and a bus.

Clarke said forensic examinations of all three vehicles in the latest attempted attacks were producing valuable information, and that officers were reviewing thousands of hours of closed-circuit television footage from central London.

"It is helping us to piece together the events of the past few days, I have to say though this process will take many weeks to complete," Clarke said.

Glasgow's Assistant Chief Constable John Malcolm identified the car used in the airport attack as a green Jeep Cherokee with the license plate L808RDT and asked whether anyone had seen it in recent days. He also appealed for any personal photographs or videos of the attack itself.

He said the man hospitalized was the driver and identified the other man as a 27-year-old. He declined to provide other details.

John Smeaton, who saw the attack, said one of the men shouted "Allah, Allah" as he was detained.

Police did not say whether the vehicle that struck the terminal carried explosives, but photographs of forensic officers inspecting the charred vehicle on Sunday showed several gas canisters next to it.

Glasgow airport reopened Sunday, although some flights were canceled. Cars were not allowed to drive up to the terminal building, and a tow truck arrived to remove the crashed Jeep.

___

Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed to this report from London

Michael Jerkoff the Skull has ZERO credibility.

he is not his own man, he is the mouthpiece for the lies Boosh wants to disseminate. he is paid to tell Boosh's lies.

I always turn this moron off every time I hear him coming on the radio news. why listen to a flat liar?