GRAND RAPIDS, Oct 30: President George Bush held urgent talks with top national security aides on Saturday after Osama bin Laden threatened the United States in the final hours of the presidential campaign.

"The president did direct them to make sure we were taking all actions that might be necessary," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said after Mr Bush spoke to his homeland security team from Michigan.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice was with Bush who held a secure videoconference link with CIA director Porter Goss, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller and Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend, said McClellan.

The US administration has been saying for several months that it is worried about the possibility of an Al Qaeda attack on the election, though it said there was no specific threat.

The national terror alert was not changed after the bin Laden tape.

There is a "high" alert in New York and financial districts in nearby New Jersey and in the capital Washington. But it is one grade lower, at "elevated" in the rest of the country. "High" is the second highest on the five level alert system.

Authorities say that added anti-terrorist precautions have been taken in all 50 states this year.

Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA official, said: "basically, he is saying, if you don't want another Manhattan, you got to change your policy. He is basically giving us a grace period here. He is saying: you've got a period to change your policy."-AFP