Clinton advisers weigh Middle East threats today

Osama bin Laden

WEB EXCLUSIVE On the scene with CNN's Carl Rochelle at the Pentagon

U.S. forces in 2 nations on highest state of alert

In this story: Pre-emptive strike discussed White House acknowledges threat Perceived threats triggered 1998 attacks RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton's top national security advisers early this afternoon plan to discuss Middle East tensions and threats that have prompted the United States to put its forces in Bahrain and Qatar on the highest state of alert.

National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, Defense Secretary William Cohen and CIA Director George Tenet were among the officials expected to attend the regularly scheduled White House meeting where the alert -- to guard against terrorist threats to U.S. citizens and facilities -- would be the top priority of discussion, according to a senior administration official.

The national security team meets regularly -- a similar session was held just last week -- and the official strongly cautioned against reading anything into the timing.

The forces in the area are now at Threat Condition Delta -- the state of military alert equal to "a war footing," the official said. Such an alert is normally reserved for situations where an attack is believed to be imminent.

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Pentagon officials said a threat -- "a specific threat that is considered credible" -- is believed to be linked to associates of accused terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden. The Saudi-born millionaire, now living in Afghanistan, is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. He has been indicted in the United States for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

A Pentagon source who Monday evening had included the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey in the list of areas at "Threatcon Delta"-- the highest state of alert -- said Tuesday he was in error. U.S. forces operating out of the base were never placed at "Delta," the source said.

However, Pentagon officials say Incirlik did raise its level of alertness from "Bravo" to "Threatcon Charlie" about the same time as the suspected terrorist attack on the USS Cole on October 12 in Yemen, but for different reasons.

The officials declined to state the nature of the threat to the Incirlik base, but noted that going to a "Charlie" level of alertness is not unusual for U.S. facilities in that region.

Pre-emptive strike discussed

The U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Pentagon planners are discussing the option of a pre-emptive strike against bin Laden's organization with two conditions: If a firm link can be established and if it's determined such a strike could be effective in "disrupting his ability to attack us."

"But we've been looking at that since the strike on the (USS) Cole," one official said. "People are thinking about it."

Seventeen sailors died and 39 were injured on October 12 when the Cole, a guided missile destroyer, was damaged in an apparent suicide attack while in the harbor at Aden, Yemen.

File photo of the U.S. attack on the Al Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries factory in Khartoum in 1998

On Sunday, a senior U.S. counterintelligence official said on CBS' "60 Minutes" that investigators see similarities between the Cole bombing and the deadly 1998 embassy attacks.

"There are some similarities that we see with East Africa," said Richard Clarke, the National Security Council adviser who heads counterterrorism efforts in Washington. But Clarke stopped short of pointing the finger conclusively at bin Laden.

White House acknowledges threats

Separately, a senior Clinton administration official involved in national security issues acknowledged Monday the military alert in response to "what our people believe to be specific and credible threats."

The talk of striking camps associated with bin Laden is "what I would call a discussion rather than a debate," the administration official said. "We are taking general common sense precautions -- and some more specific steps -- as a result of specific information," the official said.

Clinton talked by telephone Monday with the emir of Bahrain and discussed the Cole attack and recent developments in the Middle East, a source said.

Manama, Bahrain, is home to the headquarters for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which maintains an aircraft carrier group in the Persian Gulf at all times.

A small number of U.S. troops are stationed in Qatar to support U.S. military operations in the region. The United States also has an embassy in Qatar.

Perceived threats triggered 1998 attacks

At least once before, the Clinton administration has reacted to perceived threats attributed to bin Laden's associates, and that resulted in the August 20, 1998, cruise missile attacks on sites in Afghanistan and Sudan.

That decision to attack was made "in part because there was information at that time that he was about to strike at (U.S. interests) again," after he was suspected of the bombings of the two U.S. embassies in east Africa, one of the Pentagon sources said.

That attack struck at bin Laden bases in remote areas of Afghanistan and also leveled a facility in Sudan that U.S. officials claimed was used to produce or store chemical weapons.

The United States stands by the decision to strike at the plant, saying a soil sample from the property showed evidence of a chemical that has no commercial use but is "one step away" from the deadly nerve gas VX.

Sudan rejected the U.S. claim, insisting the plant was making medicine.

CNN National Security Producer Chris Plante, CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King and CNN White House Correspondent Major Garrett contributed to this report.

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FBI plans to add Osama bin Laden and James Kopp to 'Most Wanted' list
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Sudan leader blames attack on Clinton's domestic problems
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