Bush uses L.A. Plot to bolster his case

The Washington Post article on the plot to attack the tallest building in Los Angeles leaves much room for speculation that the timing of the release of more details on the plot were motivated by the Congressional hearings on the NSA wiretapping program: The reported West Coast plot had been disclosed before but never in as much detail. The president's speech came on the same day as a Senate hearing into the Bush-ordered warrantless surveillance of telephone calls and e-mail by Americans and their contacts overseas, but aides said his comments were not related to the dispute over the program. However, intelligence officials, speaking anonomously have discounted the claim that the timing of the speech and the NSA hearings were coincidental: But several U.S. intelligence officials played down the relative importance of the alleged plot and attributed the timing of Bush's speech to politics. [...] [They] said there is deep disagreement within the intelligence community over the seriousness of the Library Tower scheme and whether it was ever much more than talk. The Bush administration has used the release of information for political gain many times before and has also manipulated the color-coded threat level from the DHS to help bolster their poll numbers when they slip or when a serious criticism is made against the administration. It is interesting to note how infrequently the threat level has been mentioned or changed since the 2004 presidential elections.