US reviews terrorist threat level

The White House said Assistant to the President for Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan on Friday convened an inter-agency coordination call with homeland secretary Janet Napolitano, director of National Intelligence James Clapper,  and FBI director Robert Mueller.

Among other participant to the conference call were National Counter-terrorism Centre director Michael Leiter, CIA deputy director Michael Morrell, and the National Security Staff travelling with President Barack Obama in Hawaii, besides other representatives from the counter-terrorism community.

“During the call, they reviewed the additional steps that are being taken to ensure vigilance throughout the holiday season, including enhanced security measures and close coordination with foreign partners,” the White House said.

The review by top counter-terrorism officials of the administration comes in the wake of increased threat perception from al-Qaeda and other terrorist outfits.

Early this week, Brennan told reporters that al-Qaeda is planning terrorist attacks in the US and Europe during this holiday season, adding that the US is cooperating with international partners to thwart such attempts. “We remain vigilant to attempts by al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations to carry out cowardly attacks against innocent men, women and children,” Brennan said.