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US Attorney General Warns More Terrorist Strikes Likely
US Attorney General John Ashcroft warned Sunday that terrorist activity against the United States may increase once the country responds to this month's attacks in New York and Washington.
"We believe there are substantial risks of terrorism still in the United States of America. As we as a nation respond to what has happened to us, those risks may in fact go up," Ashcroft said on CNN's "Late Edition."
Ashcroft said investigators believe that there could still be terrorists at large. And he called on Congress to pass an anti- terrorism package which was sought by the White House by October 5.
The legislation would broaden the government's wiretapping abilities, grant the Immigration and Naturalization Service more latitude in holding aliens suspected of terrorism and make it a crime to harbor suspected terrorists.
Ashcroft said that more than 500 people have been detained or arrested by federal authorities.
In another interview with CBS's "Face the Nation," Ashcroft said would-be attackers linked to the hijackers who slammed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon might be in America to unleash further devastation.
"We believe there is the likelihood of additional terrorist activity," Ashcroft told CBS. "And it is our job to do whatever we can to interrupt it, to disrupt it."
The comments by Ashcroft reflect widely held views in the U.S.. Four out of every five Americans believe another attack on U.S. soil is either "very likely" or "somewhat likely" within a year, according to a Time/CNN poll released Friday.
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