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Information from Canada helped lead to alert, official says

OTTAWA, Canada (CNN) -- Canada's solicitor general said information from his nation's intelligence agencies helped lead the United States to conclude that another terror attack could be imminent.

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U.S. intelligence sources received a credible domestic terrorism threat against the United States, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday. Ashcroft told police agencies around the country -- for the second time this month -- to be on "high alert."

Canadian Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay said Tuesday that information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was shared with the FBI and led to the Ashcroft warning.

U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said Tuesday that a "confluence" of information from intelligence sources led to the warning. In answer to a question, he said that if intelligence experts did not feel that the information came from suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden or the al Qaeda network, the government would not have "ramped up" on it.

The New York Times reported that the information was an intercept of a message from a bin Laden associate indicating possible attacks.

On October 11, Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said similar alerts had been issued to local law enforcement agencies "five or six" times since September 11, the date of the terrorist attacks in the United States.