April 30, 2005, 11:31PM



Terrorist threats on U.S. at lowest level since 9/11
Officials think focus has turned to troops in Iraq
Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Reports of credible terrorist threats against the United States
are at their lowest level since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to
U.S. intelligence officials and federal and state law enforcement
authorities.

The intelligence community's daily threat assessment, developed after the
terrorist attacks to keep policymakers informed, lists, on average, 25 to 50
percent fewer threats against domestic targets than it typically did during
the past two years, said one senior counterterrorism official.

Many counterterrorism officials think al-Qaida and like-minded groups are
focusing on Americans deployed in Iraq, where they operate with relative
impunity, and on Europe.

Though some are expressing caution and even skepticism, interviews last week
with 25 current or recently retired officials also cited progress in
counterterrorism operations abroad and a more experienced homeland-security
apparatus for a general feeling that it is more difficult for terrorists to
operate undetected. The officials represent federal intelligence and law
enforcement agencies, state and local homeland-security departments and the
private sector.

"We are breathing easier," said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer,
whose officers guard one of al-Qaida's expressed targets and who is
regularly briefed by the FBI and CIA. "The imminence of a threat seems to
have diminished. We're just not as worried as we were a year ago, but we
certainly are as vigilant."

"I agree," said John Brennan, acting director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, told of Gainer's assessment. "Progress has been
made."

Brennan also said the initial post-Sept. 11 belief that there were large
numbers of sleeper cells in the United States turned out to be "a lot of
hyperbole." Some thought "there was a terrorist under every rock."

But some intelligence analysts caution that the drop-off in
terrorist-related planning, communication and movement could be a tactical
pause.

Brennan and others fear most what they are not hearing or seeing, especially
the possibility that al-Qaida has acquired chemical or biological weapons
and adapted in ways that have evaded detection. Analysts also say a flood of
new terrorists motivated by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq may try to travel
here and reverse the relative calm of today's environment.