Washington – The Bush administration raised the terror
alert a notch to code orange for the nation’s mass transit systems
today, responding to a spate of deadly rush-hour bus and
subway bombings in London.
The heightened alert will apply to “regional and inner city
passenger rail, subways and metropolitan bus systems,” Homeland
Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference.
U.S. officials urged increased vigilance around the country today following the deadly attacks on London transit systems, but said they had no intelligence indicating similar attacks were planned in America.
President Bush, in Scotland for a meeting of the Group of Eight leaders, conferred in a secure video conference with national security and homeland security officials in Washington.
“I instructed them to be in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place here in London,” Bush told reporters from a summit of world leaders. Bush said he urged caution “as our folks start heading to work.”
“We do not have any specific intelligence indicating this type of attack is planned in the United States,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. But the department asked major cities for “increased vigilance” of transportation systems.
The State Department told all U.S. embassies to review their security arrangements. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw offering any assistance his government might require, said a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to be identified.
The U.S. Embassy in London is secure, but the consular section, which deals with visas and other routine business, is closed, the official said.
Rice has not changed plans to make a trip to Asia beginning Friday, with China the first stop, said another department official, who was also not authorized to be identified.
U.S. officials were trying to determine, meanwhile, whether an al-Qaeda cell’s claim of responsibility for the London attacks was credible. A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because events were still unfolding said analysts were sifting through recent intelligence for evidence that other attacks might be in the works.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that because the attacks were well-coordinated and appeared fairly sophisticated, they were consistent with al-Qaeda’s methodology.
Recent intelligence indicated that London was considered a prime target for Islamic extremists, in part because al-Qaeda was having difficulty getting people into the United States, the official said.
Security was stepped up in Washington, with bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police officers patrolling subways and buses – ridden by about 1.2 million people a day. Police carrying rifles rode some trains, and passengers were being urged to report any suspicious activity.
There were no visible signs of increased security around the U.S. Capitol, one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations.
Tours continued unabated, while machine-gun toting Capitol Police officers patrolled outside, as they do every day.
A notice sent by the Capitol Police Department to top elected officials said that while there was “no intelligence regarding a specific threat” to the Capitol and the region but that security was being increased.
Congress, meanwhile, was in recess but lawmakers were quick to condemn the London attacks.
Traveling in Africa, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., denounced them as “cowardly acts against innocent people.” “The United States cannot be intimidated and our efforts will not be deterred,” Frist said. “We stand by the British people in their hour of need as they have done for us. My sympathies go out to the people of London.” At the Pentagon, police officers said they had been placed on a heightened alert shortly after the London attacks.
Security around the massive home of the Defense Department, hit in the Sept. 11 attacks, was more visible than normal today, with police officers in squad cars, on bicycles and on foot deployed in greater numbers than usual on the perimeter roadways and the Metro station.
Amtrak increased the number of police patrols and bomb-sniffing dog teams, and reminded railroad employees to be alert for suspicious activity, according to a company statement.
“These security measures are just taken as a precaution,” said spokeswoman Tracy Connell said. “We will continue the heightened security threat level until we have a better understanding of what happened in London.”
