This is making headline news on AOL:
Government Warns of Threats Against Financial Buildings
By JENNIFER C. KERR, AP
WASHINGTON (Aug. 1) - The federal government warned Sunday of possible terrorist attacks against ''iconic'' financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J., saying a confluence of intelligence over the weekend pointed to a car or truck bomb.
Specifically, the government named these buildings as potential targets:
-The Citicorp building and the New York Stock Exchange in New York City.
-The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank buildings in Washington.
-The Prudential building in Newark.
''The preferred means of attack would be car or truck bombs,'' Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a briefing with journalists. ''That would be a primary means of attack,'' he said.
The government said the new intelligence indicated the meticulous planning of al-Qaida. He identified explosives as the likely mode of attack, as opposed to a chemical or biological attack or a radiological ''dirty'' bomb.
Ridge said the government's threat level for financial institutions in just these three cities would be raised to orange, or high alert, but would remain at yellow, or elevated, elsewhere.
The government provided a wealth of detail that it had picked up in the past 36 hours, but a senior intelligence official described it only on condition of anonymity. The official described ''excruciating detail'' and meticulous planning ''indicative of al-Qaida.''
The official said the intelligence included security in and around these buildings; the flow of pedestrians; the best places for reconnaissance; how to make contact with employees who work in the buildings; the construction of the buildings; traffic patterns; locations of hospitals and police departments; and which days of the week present less security at these buildings.
To illustrate the level of detail obtained, the official cited these examples: midweek pedestrian traffic of 14 people per minute on each side of the street for a total of 28 people; that some explosives might not be hot enough to melt steel; and that the construction of some buildings might prevent them from falling down.
The official said he had not seen such extraordinary detail in his 24 years in intelligence work.
Ridge said it would be up to New York City officials to decide whether to move to the highest level, red. The city has remained on orange since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The threat potential remains through the Nov. 2 elections, Ridge said.
The secretary said the government took the unprecedented step of naming particular buildings because of the level of specificity of the intelligence. ''This is not the usual chatter. This is multiple sources that involve extraordinary detail,'' Ridge said. He said the government decided to notify the public because of the specificity of detail it had obtained.
Ridge acknowledged that protecting these buildings, located in heavily populated areas, would require additional security measures, especially because thousands of cars and trucks travel through these cities daily.
''Car and truck bombs are one of the most difficult tasks we have in the war on terror,'' Ridge said.
Local and state officials were notified earlier in the day and Ridge said new security procedures were already being put in place.
A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said the intelligence on the threat was ''very new, coming in during the last 72 hours.''
''The president made the final decision today agreeing with the recommendation of Secretary Ridge to go ahead and raise the threat level in these select areas,'' Healy said.
This was the first time the color-coded warning system had been used in such a narrow, targeted way, Ridge said at a news conference at department headquarters.
''With this kind of information comes action,'' Ridge said. ''This is sobering news.''
Referring to terrorists who are hostile to the United States, Ridge said, ''Iconic economic targets are at the heart of their interest.''
He said workers at the five specific buildings should get guidance from security officers at each site and remain alert as they go to work.
The government's warning came four weeks before the Republican National Convention in New York, which will draw more than 30,000 people, including top government officials and the president.
Ridge sidestepped a question about whether the convention should go ahead - its main item of business is formally nominating Bush. Ridge said only that New York already operates at an extraordinary level of security and the city would draw additional protective measures from the government as a national security event.
The Democratic National Convention just ended Thursday night in Boston, where nominee John Kerry emphasized his national security credentials. Some Democrats had grumbled last month when the Justice Department announced a higher threat existed in the window through the elections.
Kerry, campaigning in Ohio and Michigan, had no immediate comment on the developments.
AP-NY-08-01-04 1505EDT
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So ... what is going to be done to stop these specific attacks? There's all this credible, specific information, of where it's going to happen next, all the research of when is best and how it's best, what is being done to stop it besides raising the terror alert rainbow thing?
In your report jrydberg it states that the terrorists "would like to" taget certain institutions, that makes sense to me, I think they'd like to target any place in America that they feel will hurt us, no matter how big or small.
Do you think they'll eventully make the claim an attack is so immininant we'll have to suspend the elections?
If the threats are so specific, I guess they just shouldn't put any polling booths in those buildings? 
I'm not making any sense, I can't out what I'm trying to say! LOL! 
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