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Ridge Says There Is No Evidence of `Recent' Terror Surveillance
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said U.S. authorities have no evidence of ``recent'' surveillance of targets in New York and Washington, and his alert Sunday was based on information that might be three years old and was updated in January.
Ridge issued an alert for the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Inc. buildings in New York, Prudential Financial Inc.'s building in Newark, New Jersey, and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington. Today he defended the security clampdown begun on the strength of the information obtained in Pakistan, describing the material as possibly the most detailed ever seen on al-Qaeda planning.
Al-Qaeda will act once it believes an attack can be successful, Ridge said. ``You shouldn't get too carried away by the time frame,'' he told reporters and an audience of Citigroup Inc. employees at Citigroup Center in New York, one of the threatened sites. ``When they are ready to move, they'll move.''
U.S. authorities assume al-Qaeda operatives are in the U.S., Ridge said. There is no evidence that they have infiltrated the targeted institutions, he said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city is safe and is operating as usual, while New York Governor George Pataki praised Ridge for the warning and urged Citigroup workers to go about their duties.
Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
The plot suggested by the intelligence aims at major attacks on financial institutions symbolic of U.S. influence in the global economy, according to Ridge.
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said U.S. authorities have no evidence of ``recent'' surveillance of targets in New York and Washington, and his alert Sunday was based on information that might be three years old and was updated in January.
Ridge issued an alert for the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Inc. buildings in New York, Prudential Financial Inc.'s building in Newark, New Jersey, and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington. Today he defended the security clampdown begun on the strength of the information obtained in Pakistan, describing the material as possibly the most detailed ever seen on al-Qaeda planning.
Al-Qaeda will act once it believes an attack can be successful, Ridge said. ``You shouldn't get too carried away by the time frame,'' he told reporters and an audience of Citigroup Inc. employees at Citigroup Center in New York, one of the threatened sites. ``When they are ready to move, they'll move.''
U.S. authorities assume al-Qaeda operatives are in the U.S., Ridge said. There is no evidence that they have infiltrated the targeted institutions, he said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city is safe and is operating as usual, while New York Governor George Pataki praised Ridge for the warning and urged Citigroup workers to go about their duties.
Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
The plot suggested by the intelligence aims at major attacks on financial institutions symbolic of U.S. influence in the global economy, according to Ridge.
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