A senior military official said Israel was acting on general fears of violence, rather than any specific intelligence.

But Israel went into the four other cities to block terrorists attacks about which it had specific intelligence, the official said.

The increased threat level is based on specific intelligence received and analyzed by the full intelligence community.

This call, which Americans have heard before, is based on specific intelligence that heightened awareness and readiness deters terrorism.

Officials said these threats, rather than more specific intelligence about any Iranian operations inside Britain, led to today's steps.

The military gathered "specific intelligence from highly credible sources that linked individuals and locations with criminal activities," it said.

"The government has received specific intelligence and police information this week that gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat," he said.

But most of its original cast brought quirky and specific interpretive intelligence to their roles.

But our inability to thwart the attacks in Iraq demonstrates that we lack such specific tactical intelligence.

One of the officials interviewed declined to describe what specific intelligence led to the belief that the bomber was from Hezbollah.