Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge defended terror warnings issued Sunday based on the discovery of al-Qaeda surveillance documents three years old, saying the information was detailed and had been updated in January.

Al-Qaeda, run by Osama bin Laden, plans ``well in advance'' and will act once it believes an attack can be successful, Ridge said. ``You shouldn't get too carried away by the time frame,'' he told reporters and Citigroup Inc. employees in the food court atrium at Citigroup Center, one of the sites identified as a possible bombing target. ``When they are ready to move, they'll move.''

Ridge, 58, was responding to front-page stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post today that said the material obtained in Pakistan dated to at least 2001 and possibly 2000. The newspapers cited unidentified intelligence and law enforcement officials for their accounts.

The focus on financial institutions symbolic of U.S. influence in the global economy led to a morning meeting attended by New York Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and what Ridge said was ``an impressive array'' of 25 to 30 representatives from the financial services industry. The meeting was held inside Citigroup Center, a 59-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan.

Ridge said the executives at the gathering agreed to share information among themselves and with law enforcement officials to ``begin figuring out different ways we could support each other.''

Buildings Identified

Homeland Security issued a security alert for the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York, Prudential Financial Inc.'s building in Newark, New Jersey, and the main offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington on Sunday, saying the sites might be targeted for car or truck bombings.

The alert prompted police in New York and Washington to put heavily armed officers on the streets, to search trucks and bags, and to check identifications of employees entering the named buildings.

When a reporter asked Ridge whether the timing of the announcement, just after the Democratic National Convention and in the middle of President George W. Bush's reelection campaign against U.S. Senator John Kerry, Ridge replied, ``We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security.''

Revisions Cited

The updating of the al-Qaeda materials was significant because such revisions have occurred before the group has carried out other attacks, Ridge said. He didn't disclose what was changed in January in the surveillance information.

Al-Qaeda operatives have researched the types of security personnel and equipment at each location, gathered information on potential escape routes and determined what type of vehicle would make the best bomb and where its placement would do the most damage, senior U.S. intelligence officials who asked not to be identified told reporters Sunday.

The information was handed over by a suspected Islamic extremist in Pakistan, according to the Pakistani government. Documents came to light after the July 13 arrest of a 25-year-old computer engineer, identified as Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who helped operate al-Qaeda encryption gear, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing an unidentified Pakistani official. He was captured with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Times said.

Ridge described the find as ``the most significant detailed piece of information about a specific region that we've come across recently.'' Kelly said the nature of the information showed ``clearly personal surveillance done at these locations.''

While U.S. authorities assume al-Qaeda operatives are in the U.S., there is no evidence they have infiltrated the targeted institutions, Ridge said.

No `Blueprint'

``Nobody ever said this was a blueprint for action,'' Bloomberg said about the newly disclosed intelligence on NBC's ``Today'' show, according to a transcript. ``This was a study apparently done for potential targets.''

A suspected member of al-Qaeda told U.K. interrogators the group has plans for an attack in September, two months before the U.S. presidential election, the New York-area newspaper Newsday reported today, citing an unidentified former National Security Council official.

The al-Qaeda operative, considered credible by British intelligence, said the attack is planned for 60 days before the election on Nov. 2, the newspaper cited the official as saying. The last day of the Republican National Convention in New York is Sept. 2. Bush will be formally nominated for reelection there.

New York police have no information that would point to the convention as a target, according to Kelly.

`Open for Business'

Bloomberg told the Citigroup gathering that New York is safe and ``open for business'' as usual. As he spoke, police in New Jersey conducted vehicle stops and searches on trucks and cars on approaches to the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan. Police also stopped cars in midtown and lower Manhattan.

Helmeted police armed with M4 assault rifles patrolled the perimeter of the Citigroup Center on East 53rd Street.

Pataki praised Ridge for the warning and, looking up at about 200 Citigroup employees watching the news conference from a mezzanine above, jokingly told them ``to go back to work.''

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net or Henry Goldman hgoldman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 3, 2004 14:19 EDT