State Department issues travel alert for Americans abroad

Updated Friday, Aug. 2 at 7:10 p.m. ET

The State Department issued a worldwide alert to U.S. citizens traveling abroad on Friday, warning that al Qaeda and its affiliates are planning terrorist attacks that may materialize before the end of August, and suggesting that North Africa and the Middle East are the focus of the threat.

The alert, which expires August 31, 2013, urges Americans traveling in that region to be aware of their surroundings: "U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime service."

Security threat shuts down U.S. embassies and consulates
August 2, 2013, 4:33 AM
A possible terror plot by al Qaeda has prompted he U.S. to take major security precautions overseas. David Martin reports.



The alert comes amid a heightened security concerns for embassies across the region after the State Department announced Thursday that any embassy normally open on Sunday would be closed for the day, with the possibility of a longer closure. The announcement was linked to al al Qaeda plot against U.S. diplomatic facilities in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, where Sunday is the beginning of the work week, CBS News correspondent David Martin reported.

Martin reported Friday evening that the threat comes from Yemen where the group known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has emerged as the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. The intelligence does not reveal where an attack might occur. Analysts believe Yemen is the most likely place but warn it could be anywhere in the arc of mostly Muslim countries stretching from north Africa to south Asia. The threat goes beyond U.S. installations to include those of other western countries. Britain will close its embassy in Yemen and has urged all its citizens to leave the country.

State Dept: Some embassies to close Sunday due to "security considerations"

August 1, 2013, 12:56 AM
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. will close an unspecified number of embassies on Sunday due to "security considerations."



There's no indication what kind of attack might be in the works, said Martin, although al Qeda in the Arabian Peninsula has specialized in suicide bombings. Its master bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, built the underwear bomb which nearly blew up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas day 2009. Explosives hidden in printer cartridges and shipped on cargo planes bound for the U.S. were hard to detect even after authorities had been told where to look. Most recently al-Asiri designed a new underwear bomb, which was handed over to the U.S. by a double agent.

Officials say it appears to be a real plot in the making, not just the normal aspirational chatter among terrorists. The same officials say they are still missing key pieces of information.

As of Friday morning, at least 21 facilities in 18 countries announced that they will close on Sunday pursuant to the State Department's guidance, including the U.S. embassies in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Mauritania, Sudan and Djibouti.

On Thursday, Marie Harf, the deputy spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters the embassies were told to close as a "precautionary" measure taken "out of an abundance of caution."

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said that the administration took a "responsible step" in closing diplomatic facilities on Sunday.

"They obviously see a somewhat imminent threat to western targets," he explained.

When asked if the decision to close the embassies has anything to do with the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that ends next week, McCaul replied, "That's always a concern, yeah."

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that the threat was not based on "the regular chit-chat."

"When you have a threat and you think it's serious, you have to put it out," he said. "You get chit chat all the time, but this got to another level."

The challenge, CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan Zarate said, is "officials don't seem to have more information about particulars of the plot," including the potential targets, the perpetrators, and what their intentions are.

"It may be coming from al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula," he explained, saying counterterrorism officials are most worried about that particular group because they have strategic ties to the al Qaeda core, and they have the expertise of a master bomb maker.

"These guys are for real and they want to hit the United States," he said. "They are committed global jihadis."

The State Department's warnings, Zarate said, may be a message to those behind the plot: "We know about it, and we may know about you."

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The security of American embassies and other diplomatic facilities became a political controversy in the wake of the September 2012 attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the lives of four Americans, including then-ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. In the wake of that attack, Republicans accused the State Department of providing insufficient security for diplomatic personnel in Libya.

Ruppersberger suggested on Friday that the current heightened security posture in the Middle East and North Africa is a result of the lessons learned from the attack in Benghazi.

"We have systems in place as a result of Benghazi," he said. "There is a lot of research and work being done in making sure we have systems in place to protect Americans in our embassies."

Thank you to our friends at CBS NEWS for this update

CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate discussed the terror threat behind Sunday's planned closures of U.S. embassies and consulates on CBS This Morning Saturday.



(CBS News) U.S. officials are increasingly concerned about Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its master bomb maker, Ibrahim al Asiri, who allegedly built the underwear bomb used to nearly blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

There are few specific details about the Qaeda terror threat that led the State Department this week to announce the closures of 22 embassies and consulates in cities across the Muslim world Sunday and prompted U.S. officials to issue a global travel alert warning Americans everywhere to take special precautions.

However, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole has said that al Asiri developed a new type of explosive that might be able to slip through security.

"All of our explosive detection equipment, which screens over a million checked bags every day just in the U.S., wasn't calibrated to detect that," Pistole said.

Analysts believe somewhere in Yemen is the most likely target and ominously warn it could be anywhere in the arc of mostly Muslim countries.



(Watch CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues report the latest on the threat at left)

"I don't think you'd see the U.S. government closing 22 facilities in 18 countries unless they were concerned that this was a real and significant plot from a serious terrorist group," CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate said on "CBS This Morning: Saturday." "Every indication suggests that this is real plotting and real planning by al Qaeda, and the problem for U.S. officials is they do not have specificity with respect to where they might hit or the timing."

A travel alert alerted Americans to what officials call the "continued potential for terrorist attacks" with "public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure" as potential targets.

"Obviously it's serious enough that we are taking concrete steps to make sure our personnel overseas are safe," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said.

Installations of other western countries are affected as well. Britain has closed its embassy in Yemen and is urging all its citizens to leave the country.

"If we aren't able to get to the bottom of the threat or to disrupt it definitively, the question for U.S. officials will be at what point does the travel alert, at what point do we re-open the doors of our embassies?" said Zarate. "We have to do diplomacy. We have to be present, and a key question is at what point is the threat no longer real? The challenge for intelligence officials is we may never know."

For Juan Zarate's full interview, watch the video in the player above.

State Department Terror Alert sponsored by the very same terrorists Obama wants to give weapons to.

You truly are a piece of shit Barack..