The government dropped the threat index for the financial buildings from orange, or "high risk," to yellow, or "elevated risk," because security measures taken there in the past three months and tightened security in the financial sector nationwide eliminated the need for the higher alert designation, said James M. Loy, deputy secretary of homeland security. The government does not mean to signal, however, that the terrorist threat to the nation has passed, because officials believe the danger continues to be very high, Loy said.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge lowered the alert level for Washington's World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings, the Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, and Manhattan's New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building "with President Bush's blessing."
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the department raised the threat level Aug. 1 for areas around certain buildings in the three cities after uncovering evidence that al-Qaeda had been studying the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, Prudential Financial Inc.'s Newark headquarters, and Citigroup Inc.'s headquarters and the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan as possible targets.
New York City will maintain its own orange-alert level, which has effectively been in place since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Loy said his department's decision to lower the risk rating for certain buildings in the city would not affect New York's own terror-alert status. The latest threat was unusual because al-Qaeda apparently had identified targets with chilling specificity and studied them carefully. On the other hand, the evidence — videotape seized in Afghanistan — was undated and could have been years old, predating the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and its antiterrorism efforts.
