Bush lowers nationwide alert

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks after putting the nation on high alert, President Bush on Tuesday lowered the nationwide terror alert back to code yellow because of disruptions in the al Qaeda terrorist network.\nHomeland Security Director Tom Ridge on Tuesday morning convened a homeland security council meeting, where a recommendation to lower the threat level was approved with no objections and taken to the president. Bush later approved the recommendation, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.\nA number of developments led to the threat level change, including information from the intelligence community and the recent apprehension of several al Qaeda suspects in the United States, the president's spokesman said.\n"All these factors, intelligence, recent arrests and the passing of the Sept. 11 period allowed the president late this morning to make the decision to lower the threat," Fleischer said.\nThe Justice Department and Office of Homeland Security said in a joint statement that Attorney General John Ashcroft and homeland security Adviser Tom Ridge had recommended the move.\nThat decision was based on a review of intelligence, an assessment of threats by the intelligence community and the passing of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, their statement said. It said there was a disruption of potential terrorist operations in the United States and abroad.\nBush had raised the alert to orange--the second-highest level--after U.S. intelligence warned of a "high risk" of a terrorist attack in connection with the Sept. 11 anniversary two weeks ago.\nOfficials stressed that Americans should remain alert; even at code yellow, the nation faces a significant risk of attack.\n"We still are on alert, we still need to be careful," Fleischer said.\nTuesday's change came after Bush met with senior administration officials who review daily new intelligence, weigh the potential for attack on U.S. targets and prepare threat-level recommendations for the president.\nIn the days leading up to the Sept. 11 anniversary, U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House that terrorists operating in several South Asian countries and linked to al Qaeda hoped to explode car bombs or launch other attacks on U.S. facilities abroad.\nWhile there was no direct evidence of a plot against the United States, U.S. intelligence noted a similar pattern before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and urged Bush to raise the alert level.\nOfficials had said earlier that Bush could be expected to return the level to yellow because of "some disruptions in plots and operations" of terrorists. Several developments on the terrorism front -- some public, others confidential -- could prompt Bush to lower the alert level, they said.\nThe advances include:\n• The Sept. 11 arrest in Pakistan of Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the suspected planners of the suicide hijackings a year earlier.\n• The arrest of six suspected members of a New York terrorism cell.\n• The detention of a Sudanese pilot being held in North Carolina while investigators determine whether he was plotting to fly a plane into a U.S. target.\nIn addition, the Sept. 11 anniversary passed without incident, the officials noted.\nRidge, FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft advised Bush on Sept. 10 to raise the alert level based in part on intelligence from a high-level al Qaeda operative in custody, Omar al-Farouq.\nThe color-coded system ranks threats by colors, starting at the bottom with green and followed by blue, yellow, orange and red as perceived dangers intensify. The warning level can be upgraded for the entire country or for specific regions or economic sectors--such as the nuclear industry.