Dan Eggen and Dana Priest of The Washington Post on Pre-9/11 Acts Led To Alerts:
Most of the al Qaeda surveillance of five financial institutions that led to a new terrorism alert Sunday was conducted before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and authorities are not sure whether the casing of the buildings has continued, numerous intelligence and law enforcement officials said yesterday.
More than half a dozen government officials interviewed yesterday, who declined to be identified because classified information is involved, said that most, if not all, of the information about the buildings seized by authorities in a raid in Pakistan last week was about three years old, and possibly older.
“There is nothing right now that we’re hearing that is new,” said one senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the alert. “Why did we go to this level? . . . I still don’t know that.”
The alerts issued gave the impression that this was a brand-new gonna-happen-any-second-threat. Apparently, that is not the case. I’d hate to be cynical and call this new alert a campaign ploy, but then, how many times to I have to be lied to, chickenlittled, or “half-truthed” before I stop listening.