(Washington-AP) The national threat level has been raised to orange, the second-highest level, amid concerns about possible terrorist attacks. In making the announcement today, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said there has been a "substantial increase" in the volume of threat-related reports.

Ridge says they point to a threat that's perhaps greater now than at any time since the attacks of September eleventh, 2001. Ridge says information indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating "near-term attacks" that they think will "rival or exceed" those of September eleventh.

The secretary says recent reporting reiterates that al-Qaida still wishes to carry out attacks against the US using aircraft as a weapon.

The terror threat level was last raised to orange on May fifth, after attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. The threat level was returned to yellow eleven days later. Ridge says a specific plan has gone into place to protect the American people.