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American Public 'First Line of Defense' Against Attacks
Friday, November 15, 2002
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

(The president) does not begin his day on Iraq. He begins his day on the war on terrorism and the threat levels and the threat information that we have in the United States."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Recent government warnings about possible terrorist threats are not necessarily based on new information and are not specific, a senior presidential adviser said today.

"It is important that Americans know when this sort of thing comes to the attention of the administration," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said at a White House media briefing. She said the warnings are "a summary of intelligence, not a new warning."

Rice urged Americans to remain vigilant, calling the public "the first line of defense" against attacks. "There have been many cases in which Americans who were alert to suspicious circumstances around them have been able to tip law enforcement officials," she said.

Even though the warnings are not specific regarding location or time, officials are taking additional protective measures toward critical infrastructure and symbolic sites, she said.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan