FBI Urges High Alert on 9/11

— -- FBI Warns of Potential Threats

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 10 — Fearful of new terror attacks but armed with little specific information, the government warned potential targets to be on high alert in the run-up to the Sept. 11 anniversary.

While officials say they have no details outlining an impending attack, they're taking no chances.

The FBI told police, utilities, banks and the transportation industry to be wary. U.S. military bases and diplomatic missions worldwide also are on high security alert for the week.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Monday the threat of new attacks remains a worry to U.S. officials.

"Anniversaries can be not necessarily always can be occasions for heightened terrorist activity," Fleischer said. "Just given the fact that it's a one-year anniversary, we're going to be on our toes."

The State Department issued a worldwide caution Monday night urging Americans to remain especially vigilant this week.

In the past few days, U.S. intelligence agencies have detected what officials now describe as a marked increase in terrorist "chatter," information from monitored communications and other sources that are used as a barometer of the likelihood of potential attacks.

The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, which assesses threats to key utilities and infrastructure, issued a general alert last week.

"A large volume of threats of undetermined reliability continues to be received and investigated by the FBI," the bulletin said. "Several of these threats make reference to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and to New York City and Washington, D.C."

Other events mentioned on the Web site as warranting increased awareness include the Sept. 10-20 U.N. General Assembly session in New York and the Sept. 25-29 World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

The warnings are based on information from all U.S. intelligence sources, from telephone calls to interviews with detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a senior law enforcement official.

Information from detainees, most of whom have been out of circulation for months, has proven false previously. U.S. officials have said they act on it only when corroborated through multiple sources.

Recent terror plots in Afghanistan and Germany have not been linked to al Qaeda, said a U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking Monday on condition of anonymity.

In Germany, a Turkish man and his American fiancee, arrested last week on suspicion of plotting to bomb a U.S. military base in Heidelberg, are thought to have been inspired by Osama bin Laden, but U.S. and German officials doubt the pair is connected to the organization.

If that's the case, counterterror officials worry that the Turk, Osman Petmezci, and his fiancee, Astrid Eyzaguirre, may represent a new kind of threat wrought by the spectacular nature of the Sept. 11 attacks people who have had no contact with al Qaeda but are moved to action by bin Laden.

U.S. military bases went on alert Monday out of an abundance of caution and not in response to any specific threat, government officials said.

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said a cable was sent to all diplomatic posts advising them to maintain a higher state of alert Wednesday. A worldwide July 1 caution urging Americans to take care remains in effect.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila in the Philippines was believed to be of particular concern for potential terrorist strikes. And in nearby Indonesia, U.S. officials barred the public until further notice from the embassy in Jakarta and the consulate in Surabaya after receiving "credible and specific threat information" Monday that the embassy is at risk of terrorist attack.

The FBI bulletin did not cite specific intelligence of an attack at the United Nations but said such a New York City event in the general time frame of the Sept. 11 anniversary "represents a potentially attractive target for terrorists."

The bulletin said the World Bank demonstrations are planned by a "loose alliance of left-wing groups.""It is expected that some individuals plan to engage in criminal activity aimed at disrupting the meeting and drawing attention to their cause," the bulletin said. "Historically, tiny contingents of individuals associated with the protests belonged to violent groups. Those groups have a history of causing property damage."

President Bush will mark Wednesday's anniversary of the attacks with a speech to the nation, followed by an address Thursday to the U.N. General Assembly.

— The Associated Press

New York Finalizes 9/11 Ceremony

N E W Y O R K, Sept. 10 —The Aamoth family will find itself in anunenviable position this Sept. 11.

When the name of each World Trade Center victim is read aloudduring Wednesday's anniversary ceremony in New York, it will bethat of Gordy Aamoth that begins the alphabetical list of 2,801dead and missing.

The Aamoths, of Minneapolis, said they plan to be watching ontelevision as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani begins the recitationwith their son's name.

Giuliani was scheduled to lead a parade of dignitaries readingthe victims' names. Others include Secretary of State Colin Powell,actor Robert De Niro and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"I'm very pleased and impressed with how dignified, solemn andappropriate the service appears to be," said Mary Aamoth, Gordy'smother. Her 33-year-old son worked on the 104th floor of the southtower.

The program is to begin and end with moments of silence at 8:46a.m. — when the first plane hit — and just before 10:30 a.m., whenthe second tower collapsed.

After the first moment of silence, Gov. George Pataki will readfrom the Gettysburg Address, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg willintroduce the reading of the names.

The ceremony will conclude with a reading from the Declarationof Independence by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey.

Bloomberg said the two historical addresses are relevant inobserving the anniversary. The Gettysburg Address "talks abouthallowed ground, it talks of the continuity that's America. Everything that Abraham Lincoln talked about is still true today."

The recitation of the names will pause for readings by familymembers at 9:03 a.m., when the second plane struck, and 9:59 a.m.,when the first tower fell. Ed Skyler, a spokesman for Bloomberg,said the passages to be read have not been decided.

Many of the 197 people scheduled to read names lost loved onesin the attacks, such as the widow of Port Authority director NeilLevin, Christy Ferer, and Melissa Ielpi, sister of slainfirefighter Jonathan Ielpi.

Relatives of victims who worked for companies that sufferedheavy losses, such as Cantor Fitzgerald LLC and Aon Corp., willread many names. Each reader will recite about 14 names.

Some survivors of the attacks also were scheduled to join theceremony, like Anne Foodim, of Fiduciary Trust CompanyInternational; and a reader representing the airlines, StephenForte, chief pilot of United Airlines.

The order of readers was finalized over the weekend, accordingto Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for Bloomberg. Victims' familymembers who submitted e-mail requests were chosen by lottery.

At about 9:04 a.m., families are invited to descend the rampthat extends into the seven-story pit, where they can pick up arose and place it in a vase for an arrangement that will bepreserved for a permanent memorial.

— The Associated Press

NYC Firefighters Still Have 'WTC Cough'

N E W Y O R K, Sept. 10 — Nearly a year after rushing to the World Trade Center, nearly 600 firefighters and paramedics remain on leave or limited duty because of respiratory problems or stress, department officials reported Monday.

Out of the 300-plus firefighters who developed a severe and persistent condition dubbed "World Trade Center cough," about half are still on medical leave or light duty, or are awaiting evaluations for disability retirement.

In all, some 500 firefighters might eventually retire on disability because of respiratory problems, said Dr. David Prezant, the department's deputy chief medical officer. That is about 4 percent of the city's 11,500 firefighters.

He spoke in a telephone briefing arranged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is publishing a report by him and colleagues in a special Sept. 11 issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In the publication, Prezant and colleagues said that as of Aug. 28, 358 firefighters and five department paramedics were on medical leave or light duty because of respiratory illness that appeared after the trade center tragedy. A total of 250 were on leave with stress-related problems. Those numbers include 37 workers with both respiratory and stress problems.

The "World Trade Center cough," which includes coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath, was defined for the study as requiring at least four straight weeks of medical leave. Within six months of the attack, it appeared in 332 firefighters and one paramedic; with treatment, about half have recovered and returned to full duty, Prezant said.

He said he expected a higher recovery rate based on previous experience with smoke inhalation, where the level is closer to 90 percent, he said.

Asked why the cough recovery rate is lower, he said it is not known what firefighters were exposed to last Sept. 11, but that tiny particles in the huge dust cloud could themselves be highly dangerous if inhaled. The sheer volume of particles and lengthy exposure over days probably sets the trade center experience apart from ordinary firefighter exposures, he said.

He said symptoms have improved to varying degrees even in the firefighters who have only partially recovered.

"Life is becoming a little more livable," he said. "But they're a long way off from [being] the physically active, athletic firefighter."

— The Associated Press