Washington, D.C.
The recent Code Orange terrorism alert was triggered by the most specific warnings of imminent attacks ever uncovered, federal officials said this week. Beginning Dec. 5, an intelligence source revealed that al Qaida might try to blow up two Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve. The source also suggested an attack was planned for Las Vegas on “12/31,” possibly with a “dirty bomb,” and that as many as three other international flights might be blown up or hijacked and crashed into buildings. The information sparked an unprecedented security crackdown, but no suspected terrorists were spotted. “Did we dissuade somebody?” one counterterrorism expert said. “Maybe.”
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