Threat Assessment:  Al-Qaeda Poses the Most “Viable” Threat, FBI to Report

U.S. sources have said that an FBI report scheduled to be presented to Congress next week will say al-Qaeda still poses the most “viable” terrorist threat to the United States, USA Today reported today.

The FBI’s first National Threat Assessment will also include information on the capabilities of other terrorist organizations and identify the chemical and biological agents thought to be most likely to be used by terrorists, sources said.  It will also outline how al-Qaeda has changed since the war in Afghanistan and will contain information indicating that al-Qaeda operatives have discussed a new attack on the United States that would be more severe than the Sept. 11 attacks.  The bureau will present the report to House and Senate intelligence committee members in closed meetings set for Tuesday and Wednesday, USA Today reported.

“Al-Qaeda is still a viable threat” a source familiar with the report said.  “You cannot doubt that they are back and they are aggressive, and they are coming after us.  Are they as large as they were?  No.  Is the capability (to attack Americans) still there?  Absolutely,” the source added (Locy/Johnson, USA Today, Feb. 5).

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British Response:  Report Details Response to Terrorist Attack

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

The United Kingdom revealed its response plans to potential chemical or radiological terrorist attacks in a report issued Saturday (see GSN, Jan. 29).

The 38-page report warns it is “likely that a terrorist attack would involve a specific target such as a VIP, critical or iconic location, or high profile event.”

The report breaks down the area around an attack into “Hot” “Warm” and “Cold” zones.  The zones would progress from hot to cold in the opposite direction of the prevailing wind.

Police, firefighters and military personnel would evacuate casualties from the “Hot Zone,” or the area closest to the actual attack, according to the report.  The investigation and evidence gathering would take place in hot and warm zones.  A “Warm Zone” represents an area with some contamination.  A “Cold Zone” would be beyond these two areas.

The plan calls for workers to decontaminate survivors at a location between warm and cold zones.  Authorities would also establish a command center, an ambulance loading area and a rest center for survivors in the cold zone, according to the report.

“During the immediate response, unless they are presenting a hazard to the living, the dead should where practicable be left,” the report says.

Emergency workers might have to deal with secondary attacks and “confused, violent or rowdy victims,” the report said, warning first responders of the need to keep order in the confusing aftermath of an attack.

“In the case of mass decontamination, and if there is impatience to enter the decontamination facility, respondents should expect public disorder.  For these reasons, the decontamination process must be adequately controlled from the outset,” the report says.

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