WASHINGTON, Dec 22: US President George Bush met his top anti-terror advisers on Monday, one day after the US government raised the nationwide security level over concerns of an impending domestic attack.

Bush convened a meeting of the Homeland Security Council, including officials from the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after the domestic security threat level was raised on Sunday from yellow, denoting an “elevated” risk of attack, to orange or “high” risk.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told reporters after the White House meeting that Americans should not cancel their holiday travel plans, but he urged all citizens to remain vigilant for suspicious activity.

“If you’ve got holiday plans, go,” Mr Ridge urged.

“For national security reasons, we’re not going to broadcast everything that we are doing,” he said when asked what precautions were being taken to ward off a potential attack.

At Monday’s meeting “we reviewed the specific plans and the specific action we have taken and will continue to take”, the secretary said.

The Homeland Security Council, tasked with securing the United States territory against terrorist threats, was created by the White House in Oct 2001, and consists of representatives from the Defence Department, the Vice President’s office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Department and the Treasury Department, and other key agencies.—AFP