WASHINGTON -- Struggling to account for a torrent of fresh threat warnings linked to Osama bin Laden, the Bush administration scrambled yesterday to defend its handling of the war on terrorism and counter criticism that it is preoccupied with Iraq.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, bristling at questions about the administration's priorities, said President Bush's first order of business each day is assessing the nation's progress against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
"He does not begin his day on Iraq," Rice said. "He begins his day on the war on terrorism and the threat levels, and the threat information that we have about the United States."
The administration sought to bolster its case by presenting new evidence of success against al-Qaida, declaring that one of the terrorist network's top operatives recently was captured and is in U.S. custody. Officials declined to identify the figure.
Rice's remarks and disclosure of the capture were part of an effort by the White House to blunt renewed criticism from lawmakers and foreign leaders that the hunt for al-Qaida is failing from neglect.
In Germany yesterday, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned that the administration's focus on Iraq is dangerously misguided.
"International terrorism is the number one danger," Fischer told the German parliament. "I need it explained to me how we ended up making Iraq the priority."
The White House suddenly is sensitive to such second-guessing largely because of this week's release of an audiotape presumed to be from bin Laden -- who some U.S. officials assumed was dead -- as well as a flurry of ominous new intelligence signals.
Noting a spike in intelligence traffic not seen since before the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI issued an alert late Thursday that al-Qaida might be planning "spectacular" new strikes on U.S. targets.
Officials said there was no specific information indicating where or when possible attacks might take place. And the warnings prompted no change in the nation's color-coded alert scheme, which remained at yellow, indicating an "elevated" risk of attack.
Even so, White House officials said yesterday they were taking extra precautions to protect the nation's most critical facilities from terrorist assault after the FBI warning.
"A lot is being done to bring additional protective measures, particularly to critical infrastructure," said Rice. White House officials said Rice was referring to nuclear plants, chemical plants, oil refineries and airports, among other potential targets.
Despite the alert, however, domestic security chiefs from several states said yesterday that they had done little more this week than pass the warning on to local law enforcement agencies.
Yesterday's developments underscore how the White House increasingly finds itself in the seemingly contradictory position of claiming significant success in disabling al-Qaida even as it warns that the nation might be no safer now than it was before Sept. 11.
Rice straddled both those positions yesterday, recounting the success of the war in Afghanistan and pointing to "numerous senior leaders of al-Qaida that have either been eliminated, incarcerated, or detained someplace."
She echoed Bush's frequent warnings that the struggle against terrorism is long term. "It took a while for al-Qaida to become the organization that it is," she said. "It's going to take a while to break them up."
She also stressed that al-Qaida is "an adaptable organization. We have to assume that it's trying to adapt."
Lawmakers and terrorism experts said al-Qaida appears to have evolved considerably during the past year. The conflicting signals emanating from the White House, they said, can be explained at least in part because the genuine successes in the war on terrorism have in many ways shifted -- rather than eliminated -- dangers.
"Paradoxically this recent spasm of al-Qaida activities could be a reflection of our success," said Bruce Hoffman, Washington director of the Rand Corp. "We've forced them onto softer, more accessible targets."
Hoffman noted recent al-Qaida strikes on a nightclub in Indonesia and a French tanker off the coast of Yemen. "It's little consolation for those tragically involved," Hoffman said, "but we're talking about a different level of operation between attacking the Pentagon and a bar in Bali."
The latest FBI warning was prompted in part, officials said, by the bin Laden audiotape that surfaced this week, in which he praises recent strikes in Indonesia and Yemen and calls for stepped-up attacks against the United States and its allies.
Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, said state and local authorities have been put on heightened alert.
"In selecting its next targets, sources suggest al-Qaida might favor spectacular attacks," the bulletin said, mentioning targets that offer "high symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the U.S. economy, and maximum psychological trauma."
It mentioned the "aviation, petroleum and nuclear sectors" in particular, but allowed that "softer targets would be easier for sleeper cells already in the U.S. to carry out."
Asked whether the re-emergence of bin Laden and the flurry of new threats argue against action in Iraq, Rice repeated administration claims that Iraq and al-Qaida are linked.
U.S. officials confirmed yesterday that a senior al-Qaida operative had been captured recently. One U.S. official described him as "in the top dozen or two" in the al-Qaida command structure.
Intelligence officials said they continue to analyze the bin Laden tape. Analysts remain convinced that it is the terrorist mastermind's voice on the recording, but technical analysis has so far been inconclusive.
Greg Miller and Josh Meyer are reporters for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper. Wire reports contributed to this article.