RCMP says it helped in tip about Obama attack‎, Terrorism plot threatened Obama inauguration: report

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ABC Online

RCMP says it helped in tip about Obama attack‎

A bomb was to explode as Barack Obama took the oath of office. (Reuters: Chuck Kennedy/Pool)

Barack Obama was inaugurated as US president last year under the shadow of a credible terrorist plot to attack the ceremony, The New York Times reported.The threat proved a false alarm, but the incoming administration took it so seriously that contingency plans were drawn up in case the incoming government and president were killed, the Times said.Mr Obama was inaugurated January 20, 2009, on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington.According to intelligence officials, a group of Somalis was believed to be crossing from Canada to explode a bomb as Obama took the oath, an event watched by more than a million people in the centre of Washington and millions more on television worldwide."All the data points suggested there was a real threat evolving quickly that had an overseas component," Juan Carlos Zarate, a national security adviser for terrorism, said.Out of precaution, the White House selected defence secretary Robert Gates as successor to the leadership in a worst case scenario.Mr Gates was reportedly sent to a secret location during the inauguration.Mr Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan told the Times that as the inauguration drew nearer, the plot "seemed to be growing in credibility and relevance".Mr Brennan said he suspected a "poison pen" threat in which militants revealed information to harm rival groups.
The Times quoted officials saying the plot was declared a false alarm 72 hours after it was announced.
-AFP http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/05/2785585.htm?section=justin