SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS RELEASES STATEMENT ON SECRETARY RIDGE’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF INCREASED THREAT LEVELS IN PARTS OF U.S.

BANGOR, ME-- Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Department of Homeland Security, has released the following statement with regard to Secretary Ridge's announcement this afternoon that the terror threat level for New York, Northern New Jersey and Washington, DC has been increased:

"Under Secretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson briefed me early this afternoon on Secretary Ridge''s decision to raise the threat level for New York, Northern New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., in response to credible and unusually specific information that Al Qaeda terrorists are targeting buildings housing financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington," Senator Susan Collins said.

"I commend the Secretary for sharing an unprecedented amount of information with state and local law enforcement agencies about this extremely serious threat."