Terror threat for financial institutions lowered

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities lowered the terror alert status for areas around financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J., saying Wednesday that additional security precautions had reduced the threat.

Lowering the threat level from orange to yellow -- the midpoint on the government's five-level terror warning system -- comes three months after the alert was raised because of concerns the institutions and the areas around them could be al-Qaida targets. Yellow is "elevated," while orange is considered a "high" threat of attack.

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy said security improvements made since the threat was raised Aug. 1 allowed the government to make the change. However, he warned the threat of an al-Qaida attack remains serious.

"We are as concerned today as we were a month ago," Loy said.

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