White House: No specific terror threat against US

July 11, 2007 · Filed Under Terrorism, U.S. News, White House

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – The Bush administration said on Wednesday there was no specific, credible terrorism threat against the United States and denied that an emergency meeting had been called.

ABC News reported on Tuesday that the White House had called an urgent multi-agency session for Thursday to discuss a potential new al Qaeda threat on U.S. soil.

White House officials said it was a regularly scheduled meeting and not attended by the most senior national security officials.

“There continues to be no credible, specific intelligence to suggest that there is an imminent threat to the homeland,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

“There is no emergency meeting,” he said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had told the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board his “gut feeling” was that the United States faced an increased risk of attack this summer.

Fratto said he was not aware that Chertoff had made those feelings known to President George W. Bush.

[Reuters]