The "Al Qaeda Connection"...Or Lack Thereof

Chertoff: No conclusion reached on 'al Qaeda connection' (Full transcript is available there.)

In a press conference held late Friday afternoon at the Ronald Reagan Washingon National Airport in Arlington, Virgina, Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that there was no evidence of any US based threat related to an alleged plot to bring down airplanes with liquid explosives, but that no conclusion had been reached on whether or not there was any "al Qaeda connection."

"Regarding the U.S., as we get material from the investigation, our first priority is to examine it for any connection to people in the United States or the possibility of an event within the United States itself," said Chertoff.

"Currently, I'm -- we do not have evidence that there was, as part of this plot, any plan to initiate activity inside the United States or that the plotting was done in the United States," Chertoff said.

"With respect to the al Qaeda connection, while I think we do have our own views of this, because it's an ongoing investigation, there's a lot of material to be examined, and also, you know, frankly, because of the rules that govern legal proceedings in Britain, I think we ought to withhold reaching a final conclusion until we've got all the evidence in," said Chertoff.

"As I said yesterday -- and I haven't changed my opinion on this -- certainly in terms of the complexity, the sophistication, the international dimension, and the number of people involved, this plot has the hallmarks of an al Qaeda-type plot," Chertoff continued.

"And it is certainly reminiscent of what was the early 1990s plan to blow up a dozen airliners in the Pacific, which was directed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is, of course, a senior leader of al Qaeda," added Chertoff.