The FBI increased its internal terrorism alert level this week because of increased chatter among terrorists that has been picked up by intelligence agencies, an official said Thursday.
"We're very worried that within the next six to eight months we're going to get hit again," said FBI Special Agent Kenneth T. McCabe, who oversees the Pittsburgh office of the bureau. McCabe participated in a conference call with FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday to discuss the heightened terror alert level.
McCabe made the disclosure Thursday during a symposium on cyber crime co-sponsored by the FBI and Duquesne University Law School. McCabe said the bureau did not have specific information on whether the threats alluded to a terrorist attack on computer systems or a more traditional terrorist target.
The internal alert level does not refer to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded terror alert level, which is currently "yellow," or "elevated." The terror level was last raised to "orange," or "high," before Christmas.
But the agency has been seeing more intelligence activity, or "chatter," which harkens back to intelligence that was gathered but never acted on prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Somerset County, McCabe said.
"A lot of people were critical of us for not taking more aggressive action prior to 9/11," he said. "That will never happen again."
The time frame of six to eight months covers a period during which both major political parties' national conventions, the G8 summit in Atlanta, the U.S. presidential election and the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, will be held.
"Because of the elections coming up and because the terrorists saw what happened in Spain, our alert was heightened," FBI Special Agent William P. Shore said. "They influenced the outcome of the election. If they want Bush out, which we know they do, they might believe they could influence the outcome of the election with a terrorist attack."
McCabe said some of the information recently gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests al-Qaida "has been pleased with the results of what they saw happen in Madrid."
Investigators believe al-Qaida had links to the March 11 Madrid train bombing, which killed 191 people. Three days after the attack, the sitting Popular Party lost to the Socialist Party in Spanish elections.
Local and state law enforcement agencies contacted yesterday would not discuss specific intelligence the FBI might have shared with them in recent days.
"We are in constant contact with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, but I would not be in a position to leverage any intelligence information," said Lynette Quinn, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania State Police.
Pittsburgh police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. would neither confirm nor deny that the department had been contacted by the FBI.
"We have a very good working relationship with FBI and other law enforcement agencies across the region and the nation, and we're in constant communication with them," city police spokeswoman Tammy Ewin said.
"Part of what we have to do is get the word out," McCabe said. "We want everybody to be vigilant and looking for abnormalities in their communities. We have several significant events coming up in the next six to eight months that would make good targets for terrorists."
. Go USA.