Capitol, lawmakers targeted, officials confirm

Congressional leaders have been told that federal lawmakers and the U.S. Capitol, in addition to five financial centers identified last week, are targets for attack by al Qaeda terrorists.

Frances Townsend, homeland security adviser at the White House, and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, both appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” confirmed the threats and their extent as officials remain concerned about pre-election terrorist attacks, including abductions and assassinations.

The disclosures helped explain traffic checkpoints and other tighter security imposed last week around Capitol Hill.

When asked directly by interviewer Bob Schieffer whether “there have been some threats against the Capitol and members of Congress,” Mrs. Townsend replied “yes.”

Mrs. Townsend confirmed that the previously undisclosed threats to Capitol Hill are part of a “continuing threat stream” of intelligence.

“We knew that al Qaeda was practiced in the training camps for assassinations and kidnappings, and there are a number of others like that that are continuing threat streams,” she said.

Mr. Biden, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was notified Friday in Delaware over a secure FBI phone line, but questioned the authenticity of the threats against Congress.

Although Mr. Biden told CBS, “I take it seriously,” he also said: “I’m not impressed by some of the sources.

“Some of the sources, by the admission or statement of our intelligence people, were of questionable credibility, because we’ve received disinformation before,” Mr. Biden said.

“But I don’t want the American people or specifically my wife listening to this thinking that there’s hard data that is incontrovertible from hard sources that has targeted individual officeholders or targeted specific places in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “But there is a lot of talk about — there’s a whole lot of traffic out there.

“There’s reason to be concerned. I don’t think there’s reason to be alarmed,” he said.

With the exception of lawmakers on the several committees holding hearings on the September 11 commission’s report, most legislators are out of Washington until after Labor Day for the summer recess.

Mrs. Townsend said more targets might be named later as information is gathered from arrests in Britain, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

She said the administration initially shared detailed information gathered from earlier overseas arrests in an “unprecedented” manner.

However, D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey says his department was not privy to the new information and was surprised at the sudden security crackdown around the Capitol, which snarled traffic.

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