Terror Warning Expanded to Scuba Divers

— -- Terrorists May Use Scuba Divers, Planes

W A S H I N G T O N, May 24 — Terrorists may use scuba divers or small planes to attack targets in the United States, the FBI said today in the latest in a series of unconfirmed warnings.

"Recent information has determined that various terrorist elements have sought to develop an offensive scuba diver capability," the FBI said in an information bulletin issued by its National Infrastructure Protection Center.

"While there is no evidence of operational planning to utilize scuba divers to carry out attacks within the United States, there is a body of information showing the desire to obtain such capability," the FBI said.

Citing "uncorroborated information," the FBI also discussed possible terrorists using small planes.

"The interest is reportedly in the use of small aircraft, as opposed to large, commercial aircraft, due to post-September 11, 2001 enhancements in aviation security throughout the United States," the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration said in an alert to law enforcement.

The warnings are the latest in a string issued this week. Federal transportation officials said in an alert made public Thursday that they have gotten an unconfirmed warning that terrorists are planning attacks on subways in the United States.

The possible attack would involve simultaneous strikes against multiple trains, perhaps using time bombs, said an alert issued by the Department of Transportation's Office of Intelligence and Security and obtained by ABCNEWS.

Although the warning specified subways, it advised all rail and transit security officials to review their safety procedures and "implement additional security measures commensurate with the current threat environment."

It emphasized that the threat was not confirmed, but advised the industry to remain on a heightened state of alert.

The subway warning is particularly unsettling to New Yorkers, where millions of people ride the city's subways every day. Residents there were told this week that the Brooklyn Bridge or the Statue of Liberty could be targeted by terrorists.

And around the country, federal officials warned building managers to be on the lookout for terrorists trying to rent apartments for the purpose of planting explosives. Apartment building management companies sent copies of the warning to residents of some buildings in New York and Los Angeles earlier this week.

— ABCNEWS.com

House Approves $29 Billion Anti-Terror Bill

W A S H I N G T O N, May 24 — The House approved $29 billion early todayfor the fight against terrorism overseas and at home as the twoparties grappled in a bitter election-year spat over war and thegrowing national debt. Democrats and Republicans alike strongly backed the money thepackage would provide. Billions would be showered on the military,on Afghanistan and other U.S. allies, on rebuilding New York, andon the Coast Guard, explosive detection devices for airports, andother anti-terror initiatives. Even so, the measure's 280-138 passage came only afterbleary-eyed lawmakers had battled until nearly 3 a.m. ET overissues that could resound in this fall's campaigns forcongressional control. The overnight session highlighted a GOPresolve to not start lawmakers' Memorial Day recess without passageof a counterterrorism bill they could tell voters about. Over three days of unusually acerbic debate, Democrats accusedRepublicans of sneaking a borrowing increase into the bill whilethe GOP said Democrats were hindering money sorely needed byAmerican troops abroad. "They retreated from our responsibility to put politics asidewhen the time comes to strengthen our country," taunted HouseMajority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas. That prompted Democrats to accuse Republicans of smearing themby questioning their patriotism, as all pretenses that the waragainst terror should not become a political issue seemed to fadeaway. "We don't want those soldiers used for your agenda," said Rep.Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. The Senate's anti-terror legislation was facing its owncontentious path. The appropriations committee passed a $31 billionversion of the bill on Wednesday. But Republicans, eager to trim itcloser to the $27.1 billion President Bush proposed in March,blocked debate until Congress returns next month. More than half the House's Democrats ended up voting against thebill. Their chief objection was that majority Republicans hadforced language into it that would pave the way for raising thecurrent $5.95 trillion cap on federal borrowing. The Bush administration wants a $750 billion boost in that limitenacted by late June, saying an unprecedented federal defaultotherwise awaits. It will be the first since 1997, when annualdeficits turned to surpluses under President Clinton. Democrats concede a borrowing increase is inevitable, but say itwas forced by last year's GOP-written tax cut. They say that meansSocial Security surpluses will have to be diverted to pay for otherprograms — which while true will not affect the program's benefitsor solvency, but gives them a political issue to raise. The money is for the remaining months of fiscal 2002, which endsOct. 1. It is the second installment of anti-terrorism spendingsince the Sept. 11 attacks, following $40 billion lawmakersapproved late last year. The military would get the lion's share of the money: $14billion in the Bush and Senate proposals, $15.8 billion under theSenate bill. Those funds would go for everything from bomb guidancesystems to the Reserves and National Guard. New York would get $5.5 billion under all three plans to rebuildfrom the Sept. 11 attacks on lower Manhattan. Most of the rest isfor domestic security programs like staffing the new TransportationSecurity Administration, modernizing FBI computers and buttressingsecurity at Energy Department nuclear weapons facilities. The House bill would temporarily freeze the $10 billion loanguarantee program that Congress created late last year to helpairlines whose business was eroded by the terrorist strikes. US Airways officials have lobbied unsuccessfully so far toremove the provision, which lawmakers supporting them said couldmean the airline will go out of business this summer. GOP leaderssay the carrier should be able to get loans to carry it over untilthe fall, when the federal loans will be available again. The Senate bill trims the loan program to $429 million thisfiscal year and to $4 billion permanently.

— The Associated Press

Terrorist Chief’s Interrogation Leads to More Threat Warnings

W A S H I N G T O N, May 24 — The words of Abu Zubaydah have setcounterterrorism officials into motion again, even as they wonderif the captured al Qaeda field commander is lying just to createpanic. Law enforcement and other U.S. officials, speaking on conditionof anonymity, said Thursday that Abu Zubaydah's claims led to thisweek's warnings of potential terrorist attacks on the BrooklynBridge and the Statue of Liberty. He did not provide a date or method of attack, and officialscalled his statements uncorroborated. But they canceled a 119thbirthday celebration for the bridge anyway. The level of the U.S. response to the warnings is a testament toAbu Zubaydah's seniority within al Qaeda, officials say. He is thehighest-ranking terrorist leader to come into U.S. custody sincethe Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Officials have been able to verify at least some of hisstatements to CIA and FBI interrogators. "He has told us things we didn't know before that wesubsequently were able to confirm," said one senior official."Not everything he says is bogus." On the other hand, officials say some of his statements arecertainly lies or boasting, intended to promote al Qaeda's ends byconfusing investigators and scaring Americans. Abu Zubaydah speaksEnglish. Other threats from Abu Zubaydah have reached the public's ears:He was the key source for last month's threat to banks in thenortheastern United States, and he also claimed al Qaeda wasbuilding a radiological weapon, a so-called dirty bomb that spreadsharmful radioactive substances but does not ignite a nucleardetonation. Officials have said threats linked to Abu Zubaydah are onlypublicized when they match other information. He also recently told his interrogators that United AirlinesFlight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept.11 after its passengers fought back, was aimed at the White House.Officials had previously assumed the White House was its likelydestination but said the U.S. Capitol and CIA headquarters wereother potential targets. Intelligence officials say al Qaeda typically keeps going afterthe same target until it conducts a successful strike, noting the1993 attack on the World Trade Center as well as the January 2000attempt to bomb a U.S. destroyer in Yemen — months before thesuccessful bombing of the USS Cole. Officials describe Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian, as alink between bin Laden and many of al Qaeda's operational cells. Abu Zubaydah ran the Khalden camp in Afghanistan, where U.S.investigators believe many of the Sept. 11 hijackers trained. He also had telephone contacts with at least one student at U.S.flight schools, according to a July 10, 2001, memo from a PhoenixFBI agent. Earlier, he is believed to have masterminded the failedmillennium bombing plots in Los Angeles and Jordan, and he has beenlinked to failed plots on the U.S. embassies in Paris and Sarajevo. U.S. and Pakistani authorities captured and wounded Abu Zubaydahin a raid in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in late March. They also found his notebook, which officials say may contain amore accurate account of his plans. His location remains undisclosed but he is thought to be awayfrom U.S. soil. He shouldn't know the furor his statements are causing, if hisinterrogators are using standard techniques that would keep himuninformed. This would allow them to tell him only what they wantabout events in the outside world.

— The Associated Press