Attack dates pass, but alert still high

WASHINGTON -- The specific dates for possible terrorist attacks against the United States have passed, and the volume of intelligence that prompted the government to raise the security threat to orange before Christmas has dropped slightly, federal law enforcement officials familiar with the intelligence said Sunday.

But the officials and other U.S. security authorities said those developments do not diminish the threat posed by al-Qaida and should not result in lowering the nation's threat status from the "high risk" level. They said they suspect the terrorist group still seeks to launch another catastrophic assault against the USA on the scale of the 9/11 hijackings.

"We don't know what stage a plot may be in," one of the law enforcement officials said. "We don't have the full context of a plot."

Suspicions that al-Qaida planned another air attack, possibly using foreign carriers, led to the threat level being raised Dec. 21.

All of the dates for a possible attack gathered by U.S. intelligence officials revolved around the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the official said. Although those dates have passed, the official said, the recent cancellations and delays of international flights could go on indefinitely.

Intercepted communications involving suspected terrorists, combined with information obtained in interrogations of captured operatives, triggered the higher threat level and an increased focus on commercial aviation around the world.

Concern for the security of passenger flights have resulted in cancellations or delays of flights originating in London, Paris and Mexico City during the past two weeks. Other suspicious flights are being escorted or shadowed by U.S. fighter jets as a precaution.

On Sunday, British Airways Flight 223 from London to Washington -- a daily flight that has been canceled, delayed and escorted by U.S. fighter jets during the past week -- was delayed again because of security concerns.

Sunday's trans-Atlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to Washington's Dulles Airport was held for more than three hours at the request of U.S. officials, according to British Airways spokesman Paul Parry.

"They have requested to be supplied with extra information about the flight for security purposes before takeoff to Washington, the same as happened yesterday," he said.

Saturday's flight was delayed for more than three hours because of concerns about whether passengers had been properly screened as they went through security.

On Friday, the flight was canceled because of a dispute between the airline's pilots union and the British government over whether armed air marshals should be aboard. The U.S. government has demanded that foreign governments put armed marshals on flights when asked to do so, and British officials have said they will comply. But the union representing British Airways pilots said flying with armed marshals is too dangerous. It was unclear Sunday how or whether the dispute had been resolved.

On Thursday, the same flight was canceled because of security concerns. On Wednesday, it was escorted into Dulles by U.S. F-16s.

British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said travelers should continue to expect tight security. "For many years to come, we are going to be living in an age where there is going to be a heightened state of alert. Sometimes it will be quite severe, at other times, perhaps less so," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

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