U.S. Weighs Bin Laden's Words

No Plan To Boost Nation's Threat Level Despite Tape Vowing More Attacks

(CBS/AP) 
CIA analysts verified the recording as bin Laden's voice. They offered no details about how they reached that conclusion, but in the past the agency has verified authenticity in part by comparing new recordings to earlier messages.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the tape showed that al Qaeda has been hobbled, because "they didn't have the ability to do anything on video" and because it had been so long since bin Laden had been heard from.

He said the tape's significance depends in part on whether it is determined to have been produced in recent days or weeks or pieced together from the more distant past.

Analysts say the 10-minute audio recording had a stamp dated Dec. 5, 2005 on it when it arrived at the Arab network Al-Jazeera and believe it was recorded in that time frame, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart. It also had a specific reference in it to a story in the British press last November, which at least confirms to CIA analysts that bin Laden was alive on that date.

Some officials believe bin Laden may have released the tape now to try and reassure the al Qaeda rank and file after the U.S. airstrikes in Pakistan; others, however, think the tape was just a long time in transit and simply bin Laden's way of reasserting control, reports Stewart.

Cheney said the threat from al Qaeda continues.

"We see ample evidence of continued plotting against the United States," the vice president said in an interview with Fox New Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto." "I think we have to assume that the threat is going to continue for a considerable period of time. Even if bin Laden were no longer to be a factor, I still think we'd have problems with al Qaeda."

Ironically, the bin Laden tape may give the White House an opportunity to claim more justification for its secret NSA spying program, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent John Roberts. The administration Thursday rechristened that eavesdropping an "early warning system" in the war on terror.

Homeland Security officials alerted states about bin Laden's comments in a routine call Thursday morning, Petrovich said.

Sharon Gang, a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams, said the city was not raising its terror alert level. Across the Potomac River in Virginia, the information did not trigger any alarms, said Steve Mondul, the state's deputy preparedness director.

"The basic header we put on it was, everyone should be a little more alert, and watch this space for further instructions," said Mondul, who participated in the Homeland Security call and then passed on the information to Virginia law enforcement, military, health and transportation agencies.

Over the past year, there has been much speculation about bin Laden's whereabouts and even whether he was still alive.

The tape apparently provides no definitive answers to either question, but there was speculation that it might be an attempt to show supporters that bin Laden was still around.

"He has made threats before, but there hasn't been a public utterance for a long time, and for that reason no one is being dismissive of it," said one counterterror official, speaking on condition of anonymity while the tape was still being analyzed.

President Bush was told about the audiotape Thursday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists," McClellan said. "We put them out of business."