WASHINGTON - The FBI concluded Tuesday that the raw intelligence behind last week's warning that terrorists might attack West Coast bridges was not credible.
Nonetheless, the FBI wants law enforcement to remain on high alert and guard against possible terrorist activities in the United States and abroad, officials said.
The FBI received uncorroborated intelligence last week suggesting terrorists might strike suspension bridges on the West Coast between last Friday and Wednesday and issued a private warning to law enforcement in eight states.
California Gov. Gray Davis then took the information public, suggesting federal officials had ``credible evidence'' of a possible terror attack on four bridges in his state.
National Guard troops took up positions on the bridges, and transportation officials beefed up security from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the Holland Tunnel in New York.
But agents who looked further into the raw intelligence found no evidence to corroborate the threat, officials said. They issued an updated message to police nationwide on Tuesday.
``Recipients should be advised that FBI investigation has determined that the threat to suspension bridges is not deemed credible,'' the message said.
The reassessment came as a top FBI official acknowledged agents still have few clues in the investigation into anthrax attacks that have left four dead and sickened 13 more Americans.
FBI counterterrorism official James Caruso told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing federal law enforcement officials still don't know the number of U.S. labs that handle anthrax or other biological agents.
We do not know that,'' Caruso said. We are pressing hard to determine. I know it's an unsatisfactory answer and unsatisfactory to us as well.''
In Nevada, a federal judge on Tuesday ordered a U.S. Consulate employee from Saudi Arabia sent to New Jersey to face charges he accepted bribes to grant visas to foreigners entering the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnik told U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnston that the FBI has tape-recorded and videotaped evidence that the consulate employee, Abdulla Noman, arranged the sale of visas to people entering the United States from Saudi Arabia.
He said the Yemeni citizen needed to be held until authorities learn more about how several Saudi citizens involved in the Sept. 11 hijackings obtained their visas.
He was the go-to man for people getting false visas in Saudi Arabia,'' Zlotnik said. It's no secret that the individuals on Sept. 11th came from Saudi Arabia with visas. The nature of that crime clearly poses a risk to the community until the FBI investigates who he provided visas to.''
A lawyer representing Noman told Johnston that Noman was beaten in his cell Monday while in custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service in Las Vegas.
``He was beaten because he was an Arab,'' said Shari Kaufman, an assistant federal public defender in Las Vegas. She pointed to cuts and bruises on Noman's face and said he was beaten by another inmate.
Kaufman said Noman was a trusted U.S. Consulate employee in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who has been wrongly accused and held because of anti-Arab fear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
