Ridge says alleged letter contains no new threats

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - With the Senate set to approve the agency he's expected to lead, President Bush's homeland security adviser on Sunday played down as "really nothing new" an alleged al-Qaida threat of attacks in New York and Washington.

"We're familiar with that piece of information. There are no new threats. There are the same old conditions," Ridge told "It's just part of the continuing threat environment that we assess. It's really nothing new."

Ridge said a recent visit he made to MI5, the British domestic intelligence agency, was "very revealing," but added that he thought it was unlikely the administration would create something similar.

Ridge said powers given to MI5 would be unacceptable under the Constitution.

"I don't think you're going to see a similar organization be developed in this country," he said. "That's not to say that not on a regular basis we don't sit down and see how we can improve our intelligence-gathering capacity domestically and how we share it.

Passage of the homeland security bill could come Monday before Senate adjourns this week. The House approved the bill last week after the White House agreed to some concessions to Democrats concerned over the labor rights of the 170,000 employees of the new agency.