Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The Homeland Security Department was surprised by the announcement Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller that a terrorist attack was increasingly likely in the coming months," reports Newsday. But Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called the threats "not the most disturbing that I have personally seen." Homeland Security officials believe the intelligence behind the warning "was not new or specific enough to merit an announcement," according to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal attributes this contradiction to "turf battles that have emerged since Homeland Security was created... one year ago." The San Francisco Chronicle notes: "with an election five months away and polls showing President Bush's approval ratings slipping... there was rampant speculation that politics had prompted the announcement."
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