Although there was roughly three weeks between the arrest of alleged Al Queda figure Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan and the announcement of Orange Alert that Khan's information was reportedly pivotal to, the delay had "absolutely nothing" to do with the Democratic National Convention.
That was according to White House Homeland Security advisor Fran Townsend, in response to a question posed by HUMAN EVENTS' John Gizzi during an Administration briefing August 2. Flanked by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and White House chief of staff Andrew Card, Ms. Townsend fielded questions about the 9/11 Commission report and the war on terrorism in general at the regular White House press briefing Monday afternoon.
"[I]t had absolutely nothing to do with the Democratic National Convention," Townsend told Gizzi, referring to the period between the arrest of Khan and the Orange Alert announcement. She also brushed aside suggestions that Khan was the only individual "whose intelligence led to the raising of the threat," and pointed out that the Secretary of Homeland Securtiy said that "there were multiple reporting streams that came together in such a way to give us real" evidence that an Al Queda strike was in the works in New York.
