WASHINGTON – The federal government is receiving reports of "suspicious activity" around buildings where presidential inaugural (search) events and a parade are scheduled to occur Jan. 20 in Washington, FOX News learned Friday.
FOX News obtained an intelligence bulletin sent this week to law enforcement by the FBI's Washington field office, which is coordinating the security for next week's inaugural along with the U.S. Secret Service (search).
An FBI official confirmed the authenticity of the bulletin and said, "there is no credible threat information but we are looking at everything and anything out of an abundance of caution."
More than 6,000 law enforcement personnel will be on duty Jan. 20, the day President Bush (search) is sworn in for a second term.
Reports of suspicious activity noted by the FBI include people taking pictures and writing descriptive notes while being near the buildings. But there is no indication that any of these activities are linked to terrorist activity. Plus, many of the buildings and streets in question consistently receive numerous suspicious activity reports due to their high visibility in the Washington area.
Some of the threat reporting is coming to U.S. officials from overseas, according to the FBI bulletin.
For example, the State Department advised that on Jan. 6, a regional security office received a letter via local mail service from a Kenyan national, alleging that terrorists will launch an attack at the inauguration using tactics similar to those employed in Iraq last month that killed 19 U.S. soldiers.
The letter did not contain further details about the alleged attack but it rambled on about other topics such as the recent tsunami disaster, the Kenyan government's inability to provide jobs and medical care to its citizenry and the torture of political prisoners, according to the bulletin.
The possible reference in the letter to the Dec. 21 attack in Mosul, Iraq, on a U.S. military mess hall may indicate the use of an improvised explosive device by a would-be homicide bomber, the agency noted. Based on the information received to date, this is not assessed to be a credible threat. A copy of the letter is being passed to the Kenyan police for further investigation.
Another threat report, as outlined in the FBI bulletin, consists of word that Mohamad Chafiq Dekkak contacted a U.S. businessman of Muslim descent to sponsor his visa entry into the United States for business purposes.
Dekkak has been associated with two possible international arms dealers, Hemad Lakhani (search) and Samir El Mahallawy (search). Lakhani was arrested in the United States in August 2003 and charged with providing material support for terrorist acts and with violating the arms import/export control act. The FBI continues to investigate.
Dekkak's hidden intent is allegedly to attend the inauguration. This is suspicious, since Dekkak has no known basis for his recent interest in U.S. political events, the FBI noted.
FOX News' Catherine Herridge and Anna Persky contributed to this report.
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