U.S. Warns of Terror Threat Against Financial Buildings nytimes.com
[ And I thought you were kidding. Sheesh. I think it's a little early to be playing these games. Election is still 3 months away . ]
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Tom Ridge, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said today that based on information that Al Qaeda was planning to target five buildings, the threat level has been raised in northern New Jersey and Washington, D.C., to the second-highest level, and remained at that level in New York City.
"This afternoon we do have new and unusually specific information about where Al Qaeda would like to attack," Mr. Ridge said at a news conference in Washington.
"As a result, today the United States government is raising the threat level to Code Orange for the financial services sector in New York City, northern New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.," he said.
He said reports indicate that Al Qaeda is targeting specific buildings, including the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York City; Prudential Plaza in Newark; and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington.
He said that the executive leadership in those institutions had been contacted, but that the department did not have indication of the timing of potential attacks.
"We have told them that, at this time, there is no information that indicates a specific time for these attacks beyond the period leading up to our national elections," Mr. Ridge said.
He said the method of attack, as "suggested in reporting," was car and truck bombs.
Buffer zones around the buildings' perimeters, underground parking security, screening of vehicles and packages and other measures "both seen and unseen" were added steps to an already vigorous security effort, he said.
"We have no specific information that says an attack is imminent," Mr. Ridge said. But given the specificity of the information, he added, "these might be the targets" of a potential attack.
Spokesmen for the institutions targeted said they expected employees to come to work as usual.
The increase to orange alert puts those areas on the second-highest alert level, although New York has been on that level since the system was put in place after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The raised security level would allow authorities to increase protection in and around the buildings that require it, and to raise awareness, he said.
"Compared to previous threat reporting, these intelligence reports have provided a level of detail that is very specific," Mr. Ridge said. He said that information was coming from multiple sources and locations.
"It is alarming in both the amount and specificity of the information."
He said there was concern about targets beyond those buildings as well.
He did not link the potential timing of the attacks specifically to the upcoming Republican National Convention, which starts in New York City on Aug. 30.
"There is no specific information linking this new information to the convention," Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York said in a news conference.
But he said there has never been such specific information in terms of naming particular sites. He said of the information: "It is recent, it is high level, it is overseas."
In New York City, authorities have already increased security in general.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there would be greater law enforcement presence at sensitive locations, like landmarks.
"We are deploying our full array of counterterrorism resources," Mr. Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference today. "We will spare no expense and we will take no chances."
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said that there would be screening and searching of vehicles, some of them at random. An attack with explosives, by large vehicular bombing or smuggling by an individual, was seen as more likely than one with chemicals, but precautions were being taken for both, he said.
No trucks will be permitted to enter Manhattan on the Williamsburg Bridge, he said. Instead, they should use the Manhattan Bridge.
Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey said in a news conference today that the increased threat level applied to five counties — Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union — and all state government buildings.
"I think Secretary Ridge made an informed, rational decision to provide not only the information to the intelligence community, the Office of Counterterrorism, but to the public at large," Mr. McGreevey said. And he encouraged New Jerseyans "to go on with their lives."
This afternoon metal fences surrounded the Prudential Plaza building on Broad Street, where about 1,000 employees work. Bank and Academy Streets, which run alongside the building, were closed to traffic. In addition, one lane of Bank Street and one lane of Halsey Street were closed. Newark police officers armed with assault rifles were stationed outside the building.
On Saturday night, the New York Police Department, responding to new information that terrorists may be planning to attack corporations or large public institutions in the city, advised building managers and corporate security personnel to step up their procedures to guard against vehicles rigged with explosives and against chemical agents placed in ventilation systems.
The warning followed meetings on Friday night and Saturday between Mr. Kelly and Pasquale J. D'Amuro, the assistant director in charge of the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Mr. Kelly's chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne.
Mr. Browne said the meetings were held to discuss the latest reports of a terrorist threat against the city, but declined to comment on the source of the new information.
Saturday's warnings appeared to be linked to the arrest on July 19 in Texas of Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed after she entered the United States from Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande and crawling through the brush.
According to several news accounts, she had an altered passport along with several thousand dollars in cash and an airline ticket to New York. CNN reported that she was charged with illegal entry, making false statements and falsifying a passport.
The new information was first reported last night by ABC News, which said it had learned from several law enforcement agencies that an overseas source, which the network did not name, had provided information about suicide attacks being planned by Al Qaeda in the city. The ABC report said intelligence sources had described a plan by Al Qaeda to move non-Arab terrorists across the Mexican border into the United States. She has admitted to no criminal intent.
Another federal law enforcement official said the woman was believed to have been on a terrorist watch list. He said she might have been sent as "a courier" to pass along either a message or documentation to someone in the United States.
A law enforcement official in New York said, "the concern was that she may be part of a team" planning attacks in the city.
Thomas J. Lueck, William K. Rashbaum and Patrick Healy contributed reporting from New York; David Johnston and Eric Lichtblau contributed reporting from Washington; and Jason George contributed reporting from Newark for this article. |
