New York steps up security after subway terror threat

By Daniel Trotta and Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York authorities stepped up
security across the city on Thursday after what officials
described as a specific and credible threat of a terrorist
attack on the subway system in the coming days.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the FBI had alerted him to “a
specific threat to our subway system,” which had come from
overseas but had already been partially thwarted, while some
officials cast doubt on the credibility of the threat.

“We have never had before a specific threat to our subway
system. This is the first time we have had a threat with this
level of specificity,” Bloomberg told a news conference. “We
have done and will continue to do everything we can to protect
this city.”

In Washington, one U.S. government official said the New
York threat information was of “undetermined credibility.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat said: “The threat
to the New York subway system was specific but not corroborated
and not of the highest credibility.”

However, New York police chief Ray Kelly said the
information was credible about an attack “in the coming days.”

For the first time, officials raised the possibility of
bombers hiding explosives in baby strollers to attack the
subways and the city stepped up the number of uniformed and
undercover police on America’s largest transit system.

New York has been on high alert since the September 11,
2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and bolstered security
after the July 7 attack on London’s transit system that killed
56 people. Those bombers carried explosives in backpacks.

Kelly said police would be on alert for people with
strollers, briefcases and backpacks and those with such items
should expect to be searched.

During Thursday’s evening rush hour, police were highly
visible in the more than century-old subway system, which
carries 4.5 million riders daily.

At Union Square in Manhattan, uniformed officers conducted
random searches of people entering the subway, standing at
tables with signs reading, “Backpacks and other containers
subject to inspection.”

New Yorker Ashley Onstott, 19, took the subway home as
usual, despite the threat.

“I hate to say it but it just seems like an easy target. At
the same time it is comforting that these threats always seem
to get screwed up,” she said.

At Times Square, police stood at entrances but allowed most
commuters to enter the system without being searched.

Teacher Lloyd Lohmeyer, who was catching a train at Grand
Central Station, said security concerns have become part of New
York’s post 9/11 reality. “You always feel like you’re in the
bull’s eye. Maybe it’s right here,” he said.

New York Gov. George Pataki ordered hundreds of National
Guard and police to step up security on mass transit systems
and gave authority to Connecticut and New Jersey law
enforcement officers to operate on commuter trains in and out
of New York.

FBI Assistant Director Mark Mershon said the threat had
been already been partially disrupted, but there have been no
arrests yet.

“Classified operations have in fact partially disrupted
this threat,” Mershon said. “We continue to work around the
clock to fully resolve this threat.”

(Additional reporting by Larry Fine in New York)