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   http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/politics/18ALER.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/politics/18ALER.html

SECURITY
Terror Alert Level Raised
By PHILIP SHENON with JODI WILGOREN

WASHINGTON, March 17 — The Bush administration called on the nation's governors tonight to deploy National Guard troops or state police to protect government buildings, bridges, memorials, reservoirs and other public sites that could be the target of terrorist attacks linked to an American invasion of Iraq.

The administration made the request to state governments as it raised the color-coded national terrorism alert level to orange, or "high risk," from yellow, or "elevated risk," in anticipation of an American strike on Iraq later this week.

Senior administration officials warned that with war apparently imminent in Iraq, the United States believed that the domestic terrorism threat was as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"The intelligence community believes that terrorists will attempt multiple attacks against U.S. and coalition targets worldwide in the event of a U.S.-led military campaign against Saddam Hussein," said Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, in announcing the heightened alert. "There are many recent indications that Al Qaeda's planning includes the use of chemical, biological and/or radiological materials."

In tightening security precautions, the Department of Homeland Security announced today that it would order the detention of all immigrants seeking political asylum in the United States if they arrived here from any one of 34 countries where Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are known to have operated. The department did not release the names of the countries, but officials said the list included Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, among others.

The change, which is likely to anger many immigration groups, would mean imprisonment for at least several hundred immigrants who will arrive in the United States this year and would otherwise go free while their asylum applications were processed.

Officials said that while there was no intelligence to suggest an imminent attack on American soil, intelligence and law enforcement agencies had assumed for months that Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence agents would try to stage attacks in the hours and days after an American invasion.

Officials said that once a war started, the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned a major expansion of its surveillance of Iraqi immigrants and would request interviews with more than 10,000 of the nearly 131,000 Iraqi immigrants who have entered the United States since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

The administration made its request for the deployment of the National Guard and state police in a telephone conference call to governors by Mr. Ridge about 30 minutes before President Bush issued his televised ultimatum tonight to Mr. Hussein.

Officials said the new security precautions would go beyond those imposed last month, when the government raised the alert level to "high risk" for 20 days, citing intelligence evidence that suggested an imminent Qaeda attack that might be timed to the Muslim pilgrimage season.

"This time, the alert will be at the upper end of orange — very, very high risk," a senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There will be a very noticeable increase in security when we raise it this time."



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