WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's no need to raise the nation's terror alert level, despite a new, threat-filled videotape of Osama bin Laden marking the Sept. 11 anniversary, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday.
The undated pictures of bin Laden with a voiceover said to be his, which surfaced Wednesday, were the first video of the al-Qaida leader in almost two years. The State Department issued a worldwide warning, citing increasing indications that al-Qaida was preparing to strike U.S. interests abroad.
But America's color-coded alert system remains at ``yellow'' _ the midpoint on the five-step alert system. Ridge said that reflects ``a high level of risk'' and that the bin Laden tape didn't change things.
``We know that America is their primary target,'' Ridge told CBS' ``The Early Show'' on Thursday. ``And they know that every single day we're doing everything we can to not only prevent their attacks but reduce our own vulnerability in this country to their carnage and their death and their destruction and their hate.''
Last year, the threat level was raised to the second-highest level - orange - for the first anniversary of Sept. 11.
Ridge praised strides made in increasing security at airports and borders and improving intelligence gathering over the past two years.
``In so many ways, across the board, around the country we are much, much safer,'' Ridge said. But, ``that doesn't mean we don't have a journey to continue on.''
The terror alert hasn't dipped below yellow _ to the safer codes of blue and green _ since the system was created in response to Sept. 11. It has been raised to orange four times. The highest alert level is red.
Ridge predicted Thursday that the day will come when it can be dropped to the lowest level.
``I see what America is doing, not just the federal government but the mayors and governors, what the international community is doing,'' Ridge said on NBC's ``Today'' show. ``So yes, I see a day ... where we can reduce it from yellow to green.''
Related:
