Group Keen On 9/11 Style Attacks

If recent intelligence is correct, airliners remain a target for terrorist plotters. A top U.S. intelligence official told Reuters that Al Qaeda has deployed operatives to hijack planes and fly them into targets in an echo of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The official says the terrorist group is also looking at derailing trains possibly carrying hazardous material. Robert Hutchings, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which reports to the CIA director, did not give details of the plots but provided the most recent public outline from an intelligence official of the Al Qaeda threat.

The network, blamed for the Sept 11, 2001, attacks that killed 3,000 people, seeks targets that would strike a blow to the U.S. economy, Hutchings said in a Jan. 14 speech to the International Security Management Association in Arizona, the text of which was posted on Feb. 4 on the NIC's Web site.

"Soft targets, including the U.S. stock market, banks, major companies, and tall buildings are a primary focus of active Al Qaeda planning," he said. Those targets are seen as easier to hit than U.S. government buildings and major infrastructure, which have higher security, Hutchings said. U.S. authorities have found several examples of Al Qaeda adjusting its tactics to circumvent increased airline security, Hutchings said, without providing details.

"Although we have disrupted several airline plots, we have not eliminated the threat to airplanes," he said. "There are still Al Qaeda operatives who we believe have been deployed to hijack planes and fly them into key targets." Recent flight cancellations -- particularly for British Airways -- points to some recent intelligence filtering into the airline industry, as the United States continues to beef up security at airports and on airlines.

U.S. authorities have succeeded in disrupting the network, Hutchings said. "We have disrupted scores of plots at home and abroad -- plots that were audacious in terms of the numbers of attacks under consideration and their global scope," he said.

FMI: www.dhs.gov