US officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaeda or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this northern summer, The Associated Press has learned.

The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counter-terrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.

"There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.

The official declined to provide any specifics about the sources of the information but said there was an unusually high level of corroboration.

Despite that, the official said there was no immediate plan to raise the nation's terrorism threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high.

The threat level has been at yellow - midpoint on the five-colour scale - since January.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller plan a news conference tomorrow to outline an intensive effort by law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security officials to detect and disrupt any potential plots.

And the FBI plans to dispatch a bulletin to some 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies warning of the threat.

Beginning with Saturday's dedication of the new World War II Memorial in Washington, the summer presents a number of high-profile targets in the United States.

They include the G-8 summit in Georgia next month that will attract top officials from some of America's closest allies, the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July and the Republican National Convention in August in New York.

The FBI and Homeland Security Department also are concerned about so-called soft targets such as shopping malls anywhere in the United States that offer a far less protected environment than a political convention hall.

US authorities repeatedly have said al-Qaeda is determined to mount an attack on US soil, in part to announce to the world that it remains capable of doing so despite the money and effort that has gone into homeland security in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

There also is concern terrorists might try to mount an attack to coincide with the November election.

The political fallout from the March 11 train bombings in Spain taught al-Qaeda that an attack timed to an election can have a major impact.

Spain's former ruling party was ousted in the voting that followed the bombing, which killed 191 and injured more than 2,000.

The official did not say how many suspected al-Qaeda or other terrorist operatives are believed in the country, whether they made their way into the United States recently or have been here for some time.

The FBI has warned in the past that Islamic extremist groups may attempt to recruit non-Middle Easterners or women for attacks because they would be less likely to arouse suspicion.

Special security attention already is being focused to the nation's rail, subway and bus lines.

The FBI last week sent out an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies urging vigilance against suicide bombers, who have been used by terror groups worldwide to devastating effect but not so far in the United States.

Separately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Michael Garcia told reporters today that some 2,300 of its agents are being deployed to assist in security for the high-profile events scheduled this summer in the United States.

These include as many as 20 agents each day working with the Secret Service to protect the campaigns of President Bush and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.

Garcia said his agency also is working to "tighten the investigative system" to ensure that terrorists do not enter the United States by way of human smuggling operations or through the vast, largely unprotected border with Canada.

Below is the full text of George W Bush's speech on his vision for space exploration:

"Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to be with the men and women of NASA. I thank those of you who have come in person. I welcome those who are listening by video. This agency, and the dedicated professionals who serve it, have always reflected the finest values of our country -- daring, discipline, ingenuity, and unity in the pursuit of great goals.

America is proud of our space program. The risk takers and visionaries of this agency have expanded human knowledge, have revolutionized our understanding of the universe, and produced technological advances that have benefited all of humanity.

Inspired by all that has come before, and guided by clear objectives, today we set a new course for America's space program. We will give NASA a new focus and vision for future exploration. We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon, and to prepare for new journeys to worlds beyond our own.

I am comfortable in delegating these new goals to NASA, under the leadership of Sean O'Keefe. He's doing an excellent job. I appreciate Commander Mike Foale's introduction -- I'm sorry I couldn't shake his hand. Perhaps, Commissioner, you'll bring him by - Administrator, you'll bring him by the Oval Office when he returns, so I can thank him in person.

I also know he is in space with his colleague, Alexander Kaleri, who happens to be a Russian cosmonaut. I appreciate the joint efforts of the Russians with our country to explore. I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of our country.

And we've got some veterans with us today. I appreciate the astronauts of yesterday who are with us, as well, who inspired the astronauts of today to serve our country. I appreciate so very much the members of Congress being here. Tom DeLay is here, leading a House delegation. Senator Nelson is here from the Senate. I am honored that you all have come. I appreciate you're interested in the subject - it is a subject that's important to this administration, it's a subject that's mighty important to the country and to the world.

Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. They made that journey in the spirit of discovery, to learn the potential of vast new territory, and to chart a way for others to follow.

America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons. We have undertaken space travel because the desire to explore and understand is part of our character. And that quest has brought tangible benefits that improve our lives in countless ways. The exploration of space has led to advances in weather forecasting, in communications, in computing, search and rescue technology, robotics, and electronics. Our investment in space exploration helped to create our satellite telecommunications network and the Global Positioning System. Medical technologies that help prolong life -- such as the imaging processing used in CAT scanners and MRI machines -- trace their origins to technology engineered for the use in space.

Our current programs and vehicles for exploring space have brought us far and they have served us well. The Space Shuttle has flown more than a hundred missions. It has been used to conduct important research and to increase the sum of human knowledge. Shuttle crews, and the scientists and engineers who support them, have helped to build the International Space Station.

Telescopes - including those in space - have revealed more than 100 planets in the last decade alone. Probes have shown us stunning images of the rings of Saturn and the outer planets of our solar system. Robotic explorers have found evidence of water - a key ingredient for life - on Mars and on the moons of Jupiter. At this very hour, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is searching for evidence of life beyond the Earth.

Yet for all these successes, much remains for us to explore and to learn. In the past 30 years, no human being has set foot on another world, or ventured farther upward into space than 386 miles - roughly the distance from Washington, D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts. America has not developed a new vehicle to advance human exploration in space in nearly a quarter century. It is time for America to take the next steps.

Today I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across our solar system. We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel. We'll make steady progress - one mission, one voyage, one landing at a time.

Our first goal is to complete the International Space Station by 2010. We will finish what we have started, we will meet our obligations to our 15 international partners on this project. We will focus our future research aboard the station on the long-term effects of space travel on human biology. The environment of space is hostile to human beings. Radiation and weightlessness pose dangers to human health, and we have much to learn about their long-term effects before human crews can venture through the vast voids of space for months at a time. Research on board the station and here on Earth will help us better understand and overcome the obstacles that limit exploration. Through these efforts we will develop the skills and techniques necessary to sustain further space exploration.

To meet this goal, we will return the Space Shuttle to flight as soon as possible, consistent with safety concerns and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The Shuttle's chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the International Space Station. In 2010, the Space Shuttle - after nearly 30 years of duty - will be retired from service.

Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014. The Crew Exploration Vehicle will be capable of ferrying astronauts and scientists to the Space Station after the shuttle is retired. But the main purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts beyond our orbit to other worlds. This will be the first spacecraft of its kind since the Apollo Command Module.

Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond. Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods. Eugene Cernan, who is with us today - the last man to set foot on the lunar surface - said this as he left: "We leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." America will make those words come true.

Returning to the moon is an important step for our space program. Establishing an extended human presence on the moon could vastly reduce the costs of further space exploration, making possible ever more ambitious missions. Lifting heavy spacecraft and fuel out of the Earth's gravity is expensive. Spacecraft assembled and provisioned on the moon could escape its far lower gravity using far less energy, and thus, far less cost. Also, the moon is home to abundant resources. Its soil contains raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket fuel or breathable air. We can use our time on the moon to develop and test new approaches and technologies and systems that will allow us to function in other, more challenging environments. The moon is a logical step toward further progress and achievement.

With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond. (Applause.) Robotic missions will serve as trailblazers - the advanced guard to the unknown. Probes, landers and other vehicles of this kind continue to prove their worth, sending spectacular images and vast amounts of data back to Earth. Yet the human thirst for knowledge ultimately cannot be satisfied by even the most vivid pictures, or the most detailed measurements. We need to see and examine and touch for ourselves. And only human beings are capable of adapting to the inevitable uncertainties posed by space travel.

As our knowledge improves, we'll develop new power generation propulsion, life support, and other systems that can support more distant travels. We do not know where this journey will end, yet we know this: human beings are headed into the cosmos.

And along this journey we'll make many technological breakthroughs. We don't know yet what those breakthroughs will be, but we can be certain they'll come, and that our efforts will be repaid many times over. We may discover resources on the moon or Mars that will boggle the imagination, that will test our limits to dream. And the fascination generated by further exploration will inspire our young people to study math, and science, and engineering and create a new generation of innovators and pioneers.

This will be a great and unifying mission for NASA, and we know that you'll achieve it. I have directed Administrator O'Keefe to review all of NASA's current space flight and exploration activities and direct them toward the goals I have outlined. I will also form a commission of private and public sector experts to advise on implementing the vision that I've outlined today. This commission will report to me within four months of its first meeting. I'm today naming former Secretary of the Air Force, Pete Aldridge, to be the Chair of the Commission. Thank you for being here today, Pete. He has tremendous experience in the Department of Defense and the aerospace industry. He is going to begin this important work right away.

We'll invite other nations to share the challenges and opportunities of this new era of discovery. The vision I outline today is a journey, not a race, and I call on other nations to join us on this journey, in a spirit of cooperation and friendship.

Achieving these goals requires a long-term commitment. NASA's current five-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for the new endeavors will come from reallocating $11 billion within that budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress to increase NASA's budget by roughly a billion dollars, spread out over the next five years. This increase, along with refocusing of our space agency, is a solid beginning to meet the challenges and the goals we set today. It's only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be guided by the progress we make in achieving our goals.

We begin this venture knowing that space travel brings great risks. The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia was less than one year ago. Since the beginning of our space program, America has lost 23 astronauts, and one astronaut from an allied nation - men and women who believed in their mission and accepted the dangers. As one family member said, "The legacy of Columbia must carry on - for the benefit of our children and yours." The Columbia's crew did not turn away from the challenge, and neither will we.

Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives, and lifts our national spirit. So let us continue the journey.

May God bless."

People are saying terrible things about George Bush. They say that his officials weren't sincere about pledges to balance the budget. They say that the planning for an invasion of Iraq began seven months before 9/11, that there was never any good evidence that Iraq was a threat and that the war actually undermined the fight against terrorism.

But these irrational Bush haters are body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freaks who should go back where they came from: the executive offices of Alcoa, and the halls of the Army War College.

If Mr. O'Neill was the principled man his friends described, why didn't he resign early from an administration that was clearly anything but honest? But now he's showing the courage by giving us an invaluable, scathing insider's picture of the Bush administration.

Ron Suskind's new book "The Price of Loyalty" is based largely on interviews with and materials supplied by Mr. O'Neill. It portrays an administration in which political considerations — satisfying "the base" — trump policy analysis on every issue, from tax cuts to international trade policy and global warming. The money quote may be Dick Cheney's blithe declaration that "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." But there are many other revelations.

One is that Mr. O'Neill and Alan Greenspan knew that it was a mistake to lock in huge tax cuts based on questionable projections of future surpluses. In May 2001 Mr. Greenspan gloomily told Mr. O'Neill that because the first Bush tax cut didn't include triggers — it went forward regardless of how the budget turned out — it was "irresponsible fiscal policy." This was a time when critics of the tax cut were ridiculed for saying exactly the same thing.

Another is that Mr. Bush, who declared in the 2000 campaign that "the vast majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum," knew that this wasn't true. He worried that eliminating taxes on dividends would benefit only "top-rate people," asking his advisers, "Didn't we already give them a break at the top?"

Most startling of all, Donald Rumsfeld pushed the idea of regime change in Iraq as a way to transform the Middle East at a National Security Council meeting in February 2001. There's much more in Mr. Suskind's book. All of it will dismay those who still want to believe that our leaders are wise and good.

The question is whether this book will open the eyes of those who think that anyone who criticizes the tax cuts is a wild-eyed leftist, and that anyone who says the administration hyped the threat from Iraq is a conspiracy theorist. The point is that the credentials of the critics just keep getting better. How can Howard Dean's assertion that the capture of Saddam hasn't made us safer be dismissed as bizarre, when a report published by the Army War College says that the war in Iraq was a "detour" that undermined the fight against terror? How can charges by Wesley Clark and others that the administration was looking for an excuse to invade Iraq be dismissed as paranoid in the light of Mr. O'Neill's revelations?

So far administration officials have attacked Mr. O'Neill's character but haven't refuted any of his facts. They have, however, already opened an investigation into how a picture of a possibly classified document appeared during Mr. O'Neill's TV interview. This alacrity stands in sharp contrast with their evident lack of concern when a senior administration official, still unknown, blew the cover of a C.I.A. operative because her husband had revealed some politically inconvenient facts.

Some will say that none of this matters because Saddam is in custody, and the economy is growing. Even in the short run, however, these successes may not be all they're cracked up to be. More Americans were killed and wounded in the four weeks after Saddam's capture than in the four weeks before. The drop in the unemployment rate since its peak last summer doesn't reflect a greater availability of jobs, but rather a decline in the share of the population that is even looking for work.

More important, having a few months of good news doesn't excuse a consistent pattern of dishonest, irresponsible leadership. And that pattern keeps getting harder to deny.

Fearing an imminent dirty bomb attack, scores of nuclear scientists with sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags scoured five US cities over Christmas and New Year, officials involved in the emergency effort say.

The call-up of radiation experts to Washington, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Baltimore - the first since the weeks after the World Trade Centre attacks - was conducted in secrecy, in contrast to the very public cancellation of flights from Europe and Mexico.

The terrorism crisis began late on December 19, when analysts assembled what they described as extremely specific intelligence, including electronic intercepts of phone calls and emails from al-Qaeda operatives, of an attack on US soil. A "code orange", or high alert, was issued on December 21.

Even now, hundreds of nuclear and bio-weapons scientists remain on high alert at several military bases across the US, ready to fly to any trouble spot. Pharmaceutical stockpiles to treat victims of biological attacks were loaded on transportable trucks at key US military bases.

Officials said one of their main challenges was determining whether al-Qaeda is planting provocative but false clues as a diversion or as deliberate disinformation to test the US response.

The attention to a potential dirty bomb attack resulted not from specific information pointing to an attack, but from the belief among US officials that al-Qaeda was sparing no effort to try to detonate one.

A dirty bomb attack, in which a conventional bomb is detonated and spews radioactive material and radiation across a small area, is unlikely to cause mass casualties, but could cause panic and devastate a local economy.

US officials became concerned that a large, open-air New Year's Eve celebration might be a target. While the perimeters of football stadiums can generally be secured, outdoor celebrations are much more vulnerable.

There were fears al-Qaeda operatives would hijack and crash an overseas flight into a US city or the ocean. Another was that terrorists would shoot down an aircraft with a shoulder-fired missile.

On the same day the national threat level was raised to orange, the Homeland Security Department sent out radiation detectors and hundreds of pager-sized radiation monitors for use by police in the biggest US cities.

It also dispatched the Energy Department radiation experts to cities planning large public events. In Manhattan, up to a million people were expected in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

The Energy Department scientists arrived to take covert readings on their disguised radiological equipment in a variety of settings. "Our guys can fit in a sports stadium, a construction site or on Fifth Avenue," one Energy Department official said. "Their equipment is configured to look like anybody else's luggage or briefcase."

Starting on December 22, the teams criss-crossed US cities, taking measurements 24 hours a day.

On December 29 in Las Vegas, the searchers got their first and only radiation "spike" - at a self-storage warehouse. The White House was notified.

It turned out that the locker belonged to a homeless man and, tucked inside his duffel bag was a cigar-sized radium pellet, used to treat uterine cancer. He had found it three years before. The man was released. Five tense hours after their radiation detectors had spiked, the storage locker security crisis was over.

After the surprise attack on September 11, 2001 the resolve of the US Government never to be caught unprepared again by a terror attack is entirely understandable. There is ample intelligence that al-Qa'ida is ready to mount new attacks on US cities and power plants using civilian airliners as flying bombs and the US Government has no option but to be ready if and when they come. This will likely ensure air travellers will suffer similar inconveniences to those of recent days - flights cancelled or diverted in mid flight - for years to come. It explains why the Americans are insisting sky marshals ride shotgun on international flights into the US. It accounts for the upgraded identification people entering America will require. And it makes sense of the demand that flight crews check airline toilets for suspicious packages, with an FBI report revealing terrorist plans to smuggle bomb components on board jets for in-flight assembly.

None of these measures are popular - they will make entering the US a harder and more inconvenient process. A judge in Brazil has directed that US visitors must be finger-printed, in retaliation for the American requirement for Brazilians arriving in the US. Portugal, Denmark and Sweden have refused to put sky marshals on flights to the US. But foreign complaints are not likely to sway the Americans.

For the American people, September 11 was a rerun of Pearl Harbour - an act of war. And in wartime national security takes priority. This does not mean American security standards are all beyond debate. Warnings that passengers should not queue in aircraft aisles for toilets looks foolish. The prospect of a fire-fight between sky marshals and a terrorist on a packed jumbo jet is a grim one. And travellers mistaken for terrorists arriving in the US can expect a hard time. But the memory of the twin towers burning will not quickly fade from the American mind. We might not like it, but a more suspicious welcome for travellers to the US is here to stay.

January 07, 2004
When most people think about US foreign policy, they think about the war on terrorism: the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, the troubles of the Middle East and lurking terrorist cells.

This preoccupation is natural. International terrorism literally hit home on September 11, 2001, and, for understandable reasons, an outraged American public wants those responsible brought to justice – and a foreign policy that makes sure such events never happen again.

The war on terrorism will remain the US's foreign policy priority for as long as necessary, because terrorism – potentially linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – now represents the greatest threat to American lives.

But that does not mean that terrorism is the only issue we care about.

George W. Bush has a vision of a better world and a strategy for translating that vision into reality. First laid out publicly in September 2002, in the National Security Strategy of the United States, that strategy is broad and deep, far-ranging and forward-looking, attuned as much to the opportunities as to the dangers that we and others face.

US strategy is widely accused of being unilateralist by design. It is not. It is often accused of being weighted in favour of military methods. It is not.

It is frequently described as being obsessed with terrorism and hence being biased towards pre-emptive war on a global scale. It most certainly is not.

The President's strategy is one of partnerships that strongly affirm the vital role of NATO and other US alliances – including the UN. Beyond partnership comes principle. The President's strategy is rooted in the promotion of freedom and dignity worldwide. Free trade and new initiatives for economic development also figure prominently in the President's strategy, as does playing a role in helping to solve regional conflicts such as that between Israelis and Palestinians.

Another priority is developing co-operation among the world's major powers. It is here that the key to a successful conclusion to the war against terrorism lies.

We do not see the war against terrorism and the nurturing of such constructive relationships as mutually exclusive. We conduct the war on terrorism with an eye towards major power co-operation, and we seek enhanced major power co-operation with an eye towards success in the war on terrorism. The logic of this dual approach rests on the fact that terrorism threatens the world order itself – and thus creates a common interest among all nations that value peace, prosperity and the rule of law.

As Bush has written: "Today, the world's great powers find ourselves on the same side." This development is not just good news; it is revolutionary. For too many centuries the imperial habits of countries squandered untold resources and talent by jousting for land, glory and gold.

The futility of such habits has become evident in the 21st century. The possession of vast territory, raw natural resources and brute power guarantees neither prosperity nor peace. Investment in human capital, social trust, trade and co-operation within and among nations does.

The sources of strength and security for one nation thus need no longer threaten the security of others. An insight of the American founders – that politics does not always have to be a zero-sum competition – has at last been adopted by enough people worldwide to promise a difference in the character of international relations. If, instead of wasting lives and treasure by opposing each other, today's major countries pull in the same direction to solve problems common to all, we will begin to redeem history from much human folly.

We must not take the present peace among the world's nations for granted, for differing interests may still lead nations to clash. We have to work at it with patience, mindful that major war has broken out in the past despite a widespread conviction that it simply could not happen again.

Of course, we want to promote human dignity and democracy in the world, to help people to raise themselves from poverty and to transform the inadequate system of global public health. We are pursuing these goals.

But only if the deep peace of our era can be "preserved, defended and expanded" – to use the President's words – can we pursue these goals for as long as it will take to achieve them.

And make no mistake, these are the central goals of American policy. We fight terrorism because we must but we seek a better world because we can – because it is our desire, and our destiny, to do so. This is why we commit ourselves to democracy, development, global public health and human rights, as well as to the prerequisite of a solid structure for global peace.

These are not high-sounding decorations for our interests. They are our interests, the purposes our power serves.

Today, the US's motives are impugned in some lands. But as we preserve, defend and expand the peace that free peoples won in the 20th century, we will see the US vindicated in the eyes of the world in the 21st.

It would be churlish to claim that the Bush administration's foreign policy has been error-free from the start.

But we have always pursued the enlightened self-interest of the American people, and in our purposes and our principles there are no mistakes.

Our enlightened self-interest puts us at odds with terrorists, tyrants and others who wish us ill.

From them we seek no advice or comity, and to them we will give no quarter. But our enlightened self-interest makes us partners with all those who cherish freedom, human dignity and peace.

We know the side on which the human spirit abides, and we take encouragement from this as our strategy unfolds. In the end it is the only encouragement we really need.

Colin Powell is US Secretary of State.