Terrorism Threat Not Elevated for Holidays

In stark contrast to last year’s holiday season, when the nation was under heightened alert, counterterrorism officials say there is precious little intelligence “chatter” being picked up about any new plot this year.

U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement services report a continuing stream of vague lower-level threats from Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups against American interests at home and abroad.

But officials say nothing specific and credible has emerged that would require the government to raise the risk level above yellow, or “elevated,” the midpoint on the five-level threat scale.