Of course, now the "new" intelligence...

[A_Possum]

which we can't tell you about for security reasons. Trust us.

New Qaeda Activity Is Said to Be Major Factor in Alert

The officials said the separate stream of intelligence, which they had not previously disclosed, reached the White House only late last week and was part of a flow that the officials said had prompted them to act urgently in the last few days.

The officials disclosed the information a day after the Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that much of the surveillance activity cited this weekend by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to justify the latest, specific warnings had been at least three years old. At the same time, the White House offered a vigorous defense of its decision to heighten the alert in Manhattan, Newark and Washington, with officials saying there was still good reason for alarm.

This is all so predictable. If only al Qaeda were as predictable as the Bushco!