NYC Warned of 'Emergency' Threat

— -- NYC on Alert for Emergency Vehicle Car Bombs

N E W Y O R K, June 20 — Police and fire officials in New York are being warned that terrorists may be trying to acquire surplus or replica emergency vehicles to use as car bombs that could be planted near government buildings or landmarks without drawing attention.

A law enforcement source confirmed a report in The New York Daily News today that officials were alerted to the plot when two unidentified Middle Eastern men tried to buy a replica ambulance at a northern New Jersey shop that builds copies of emergency vehicles, police cars and fire trucks.

The owner of the shop became suspicious when the men tried to pay cash, and the pair fled without leaving any identification, the source told the News

"This is a real concern. Terrorists have used ambulances to sneak suicide bombers into areas," the souce told the newspaper.

Among the sites officials fear could be targeted are City Hall, FBI offices, police department headquarters and even fire department facilities.

Fire department and police investigators have already begun efforts to ensure that unauthorized people cannot gain access to facilities where emergency vehicles are stored or repaired, fire department sources told the News.

"We've been told to watch our vehicles, all our vehicles," a fire department source said. "It's the vehicles that can get into areas that we are really concerned about. Who is not going to let a patrol car pass, or an ambulance, especially if we are in a state of emergency?"

The alert comes as the city is gearing up for July Fourth festivities, which generally draw huge crowds to fireworks displays around Manhattan.

— ABCNEWS.com

9/11 Was ‘Zero Day’ in Intercepted Warning

June 20 — The National Security Agency intercepted two messages the day before Sept. 11 where the participants referred to "zero day" and beginning of "the match," intelligence sources told ABCNEWS.

The public disclosure of the information has angered the White House, which says it compromises national security.

The NSA, sources said, secretly intercepted and recorded two conversations in Arabic on Sept. 10. One said, "Tomorrow is zero day." Another intercepted message said, "The match begins tomorrow."

However, the information was not translated until after the attacks — on Sept. 12 — and, sources said, even if the messages had been translated sooner, it would not have been of much use because the messages were too vague and had no context, with no details of time, location or the nature of the event referred to.

The sources did not consider the information to be a smoking gun, and described it as the sort of chatter that is intercepted constantly, and is seldom of use.

However, two weeks ago, one source told ABCNEWS the information National Security Agency officials received was the kind of thing that might have prompted an alert, if it had been known to other parts of the law enforcement and intelligence communities.

The NSA often has a lag in translating information, and was too overwhelmed with data to translate the two messages before the attacks, sources said.

Part of the problem is that the agency, which coordinates, directs, and engages in specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information, gets millions of pieces of information, and does not have enough analysts to search through it all and interpret it. It often takes a couple of days to make translations.

Now that the translations are available, the White House expressed anger that word of the messages has reached the public and blamed a congressional probe for leaking the information.

"The president has deep concerns about the inappropriate disclosure of information that can compromise both sources and methods and potentially interfere or harm America's capacity to fight the war against terror," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "Information that is being provided to these [congressional] committees is extraordinarily sensitive."

When asked how the information compromises security, Fleischer cited a 1998 leak that the NSA had the ability to listen to Osama bin Laden's satellite phone conversations. Bin Laden later stopped using the phone.

The president has directed Vice President Dick Cheney to talk to Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the co-chairmen of the House-Senate intelligence committee, about the dangers of leaked information, Fleischer said.

Intelligence officials do not feel that news of the interceptions is as significant as other intelligence failures that have come to light.

Sources told ABCNEWS earlier this month that the CIA knew that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers met with al Qaeda operatives in Malaysia in January 2000 — more than 18 months before the attacks — but apparently did not convince the FBI to track them until less than three weeks before the attacks. Agents were searching for the two hijackers — Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar — in New York on Sept. 10, the day the NSA intercepted its messages.

The FBI has been rocked by revelations of missed signals uncovered by field agents but ignored by headquarters.

An agent in Phoenix warned headquarters to investigate flight schools nationwide after he uncovered several students he suspected of links to terrorism. Then agents in Minneapolis tried to get a national security search warrant to examine the possessions of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has since been accused of being "20th hijacker," but were thwarted. Information in his computer and property included airplane plans and apparent links to terrorists, sources have said.

— ABCNEWS.com

FBI Plans for Massive Security on July Fourth

W A S H I N G T O N, June 19 — The FBI is devising a massive nationwide monitoring operation to protect July Fourth parades and festivitiesfrom possible terrorist attacks, officials said today.

The law enforcement agency is requiring its 56 field offices tocreate specific plans for monitoring events in their respectiveregions, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity. Theplans are due at the FBI's Washington headquarters this week.

Another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity,said the FBI is not reacting to any intelligence of a specificthreat. But the interrogation of detainees at the U.S. naval basein Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has revealed a "general interest in theday as a possible target," the official said.

"We aren't chasing down every rumor or tip because there arethousands," the official said. "We're building a broad networkthat incorporates any intelligence we receive. … We are aware ofpossible targets and are prepared to protect and react if needbe."

Parades and festivities in downtown areas near subways or othermass-transit systems are of special concern, the officials said.Those activities would be more susceptible to a biological orchemical attack because of the large number of people packed into atiny area. Downtown activities could also provide several easyescape routes for possible terrorists, the officials said.

— The Associated Press