Much of the information obtained from al Qaeda that led the United States to raise terror alerts in Washington and New York was at least three years old but a top US official said on Tuesday it remained relevant.
Asked in morning television interviews whether material gathered more than three years ago was out of date, White House homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, said this was not the case.
She said al Qaeda had originally collected information about key financial buildings in the United States in 2000 and 2001 but that this was updated as recently as January of this year.
"What we have learned about the 9/11 attacks, is that they do them (plan for attacks), years in advance and then update them before they launch the attacks," she told ABC's "Good Morning America" show, referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks against America.
Al Qaeda was behind the September 11 hijacked plane attacks that destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York and struck the Pentagon in Washington.
Last Sunday, the United States raised its terror level to "high" and warned of possible attacks soon, naming the New York Stock Exchange, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund as among potential targets in the New York area and Washington.
Townsend said the US government got its latest intelligence of planning for more attacks as little as 72 hours ago from Pakistan.
"We thought we had to get it to the American people so that they could protect themselves," she said.
Security has been tightened in New York and Washington in response to the new terror alert and Washington police chief Charles Ramsey said new security measures could stay in place at least until after the November presidential election.
Democrats have raised questions over the timing of the alert, saying it could be politically motivated ahead of the election.
"The allegation is outrageous," Townsend said.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported in Tuesday editions that officials were still analysing documents seized late last month in Pakistan that showed al Qaeda was gathering information about specific US targets.
Federal authorities said they were unsure whether al Qaeda's surveillance continued, the newspapers reported.
The Post cited officials as saying that much of the information al Qaeda gathered on buildings in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey, was obtained through the Internet or other "open sources" available to the general public, including floor plans.
"What we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching of an attack," a senior US official told the Post.
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