Security threat to US embassies shores up NSA defenders
Lawmakers briefed on the alert said it was the most serious threat for years, helping shore up support for NSA surveillance programmes
The closure of US missions across the Middle East and Africa over an suspected security threat has been seized on by defenders of the National Security Agency, amid claims that its controversial surveillance programme alerted authorities to "pre-9/11" levels of terrorist chatter.
The US State Department, noting it was acting "out of an abundance of caution," said 19 diplomatic outposts would be shuttered through Saturday. The list includes 15 that were already ordered closed Sunday due to the security fears, as well as four additional posts.
At least 25 US embassies and consular offices had initially been ordered closed Sunday in response to a terror threat, a move lawmakers said was prompted by intercepts of high-ranking Al-Qaeda operatives signaling a major attack.
Intelligence committee members in Washington who had been briefed on the alert said it was the most serious they had seen for years and repeatedly cited the threat during Sunday's political talk shows as a reason to resist growing calls in Congress for reform of the NSA's sweeping powers.
"There has been an awful lot of [terrorist] chatter, which is very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11," said the Republican senator Saxby Chambliss on NBC's Meet the Press. "As we come to the end of Ramadan, which is always an interesting time for terrorists, and the upcoming 9/11 anniversary, this is the most serious threat that I have seen in the last several years."