18,000 Police Agencies Told to Review Intelligence After Bin Laden Tape

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2006 — -- In response to the new Osama bin Laden audiotape threatening more attacks against the United States, Homeland Security officials are sending out a bulletin to 18,000 police agencies telling them to review all their intelligence.

"Who are the current suspects? Where are they operating? What do the cases tell us? What do the other sources of intelligence tell us? You take the sum of that and then you adjust and say where's our threat level here?" said John Miller, the FBI's assistant director of the Office of Public Affairs.

Miller, formerly of ABC News, was the last television reporter to interview bin Laden. He says bin Laden is capable of almost anything.

"I think the first thing we always look for is weapons of mass destruction," he said. "You know, that would be the answer to the question what keeps you up at night. On the other hand, if you go by the model that we've seen in the Madrid train bombings and the London subway bombings, I think you would look toward the most conventional type of attack as a likelihood. At the same time, you can't rule anything out."

Government sources tell ABC News that local officials are being warned to pay attention to mass transit -- including subways, commuter trains and metro buses. Airports, water treatment plants, chemical plants and facilities storing radioactive material are also of concern.

A recent 9/11 Commission report card identified major areas of weakness in the country's security, including cargo being loaded on airplanes, imported cargo on ships and mass transit.

"When I get on an airplane, I am less worried about the passengers than what is going into the hole below," former congressman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton. "I worry about containers being shipped into this country. I worry more about rail security than I do air security."

As of now, there are no plans to raise the terror threat level.

ABC News' Pierre Thomas filed this report for "World News Tonight."