Signs of a Threat Were 'Probably as Rich as It's Ever Going to Get'

Senior White House officials said Tuesday that the decision to raise the threat level was made at a meeting convened at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the White House Situation Room. Several of the Bush administration’s senior counterterrorism officials, who had scattered for the weekend, had to be plugged in by video teleconference monitors.To two senior White House officials in the meeting, it appeared to be a clear-cut case. It did not occur to these officials as they debated how to go public with the information that had been streaming in about a heightened terrorist threat, they said, that in the coming days the decision would stir confusion and skepticism because much of the intelligence appeared to be three or more years old. “I’ve never seen so much pointing in the same direction,” one of the senior officials said, referring to the intelligence that prompted the heightened alert. “You think, this is probably as rich as it’s ever going to get. I can tell you, if you don’t warn now, I don’t know when you would.”Full Story