Threats to U.S. still high, FBI director says

By Deborah Charles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – There is still a “distinct possibility” of more attempts or possible attacks on the United States, more than six weeks after the Sept. 11 hijackings, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.

In a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mueller said the FBI was “pouring its heart and its soul” into the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and it was focusing heavily on preventing future attacks.

“We are assessing threats in real time and providing warnings to your cities and to the nation,” he said. “I must tell you that the threat level remains very high — more attempts and possible attacks are a distinct possibility.”

“This possibility requires all of us to continue walking the fine line of staying alert on the one hand without causing undue alarm on the other hand.”

Mueller said the FBI is deploying every possible resource into the investigation and efforts to prevent a future attack. He said about 7,000 FBI personnel, or about one quarter of its total employees, have been assigned to the investigation.

“This is easily the largest and most comprehensive investigation in our history,” Mueller said, noting that the FBI had gathered 3,700 pieces of evidence so far.

“But beyond the investigation itself, our over-riding priority now is prevention — making sure that terrorists do not succeed in striking America and America’s people again,” he said, adding that it might be overly optimistic to think every attack could be prevented.

Justice Department officials said 921 people had been arrested or detained in the United States in connection with the investigation.

Mueller said one area of focus for the FBI right now was the growing spate of anthrax incidents around the country.

Three people have died and at least nine others have been infected with the rare anthrax bacteria sent through the mail since the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings that killed more than 5,000 people when planes were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

“Clearly we are deeply concerned about the growing waves of anthrax attacks and related issues,” Mueller said.

“At this point it is not clear if the few confirmed anthrax exposures were motivated by organized terrorism,” he said. “But these attacks were clearly meant to terrorize a country already on the edge.”

The Justice Department Tuesday released copies of three anthrax-tainted letters, all of which were written in similar block writing and all dated Sept. 11. All three said “Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft has also refused to draw comparisons between the Sept. 11 attacks — which have been blamed on Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network — and the anthrax outbreak. But some other U.S. officials are operating under the suspicion that there is a link.