U.S. President George W. Bush waves to the press before entering St. John's Church in Washington, December 21, 2003. Pres. Bush will spend Christmas with his family at Camp David in Maryland but met with security advisors on Sunday. Sec. Ridge of Homeland Security raised the Terrorist threat alert to "High" based on "chatter". 
Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, speaks with the media outside the Oval office at the White House, Monday, Dec. 22, 2003, in Washington. Ridge briefed President Bush after attending a security council meeting.
This is part of the speech Sec. Ridge made outside the Oval Office.
"The strategic indicators, including al-Qaida's continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland, are perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11, 2001. The information we have indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will either rival or exceed the attacks that occurred in New York, in the Pentagon, in the fields of Pennsylvania nearly two years ago.
Recent reporting reiterates - and this is a constant stream of reporting - that al-Qaida continues to consider using aircraft as a weapon. And they are constantly evaluating procedures, both in the United States and elsewhere, to find gaps in our security posture that could be exploited.
Our actions, our considerable actions, are directed against their efforts. We have not raised the threat level in this country for six months. But I remind everyone, we have raised it before.
President George W. Bush walks from the Oval Office toward Marine One in Washington. Bush met with his top anti-terror advisors, one day after the US government raised the nationwide security level over concerns of an impending domestic attack. 
As a note of interest, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar is shown addressing Spanish troops in Diwaniyah, Iraq, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2003, in this image from video. Aznar paid a surprise four-hour visit to Spanish troops in Iraq on Saturday, having lunch with them in a desert canteen and thanking them for their sacrifice, in a trip reminiscent of U.S. President George W. Bush's Thanksgiving Day visit to American soldiers stationed in Iraq.
Here is what the increased security looks like in Washington, DC. 
