Senior American government officials have defended their administration against criticism that it was lackadaisical in responding to the threat of terrorism prior to the September 11 attacks.

The officials said the government had always been alert, but concentrated on incidents that might have taken place outside the country.

"We just didn't know that the threat was a domestic one, an internal one," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a media interview.

National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice echoed Powell's comments. In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes TV programme, Rice said the threat reporting was all about attacks that might take place in the Persian Gulf or perhaps something against Israel or against the Group of Eight leaders' summit that was going to take place in Genoa that summer. "And we were responding to that," she said.

Powell said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made sure that US fleets were safe by moving them away from dangerous ports (in light of the fact that there was an attack on USS Cole).

Before the 9/11 attacks, said Rice, invading Afghanistan and pushing the Taliban out of power was not on the agenda.

There was a three to five year strategy to eliminate Al Qaida. Rice said she 'has nothing to hide' from the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks.

Rice also denied the government put the war on terror on a 'back burner' before the tragedy, as alleged by former White House aide Richard Clarke in a new book and in testimony before the 9/11 commission last week.