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Terror Alert Met by U.S. Guards, New York Defiant
Mon Aug 2, 6:38 PM ET
By Mark Egan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Black-clad police armed with assault rifles moved in to protect America's financial centers on Monday after warnings that al Qaeda bombers might strike, and New Yorkers vowed not to be defeated by terrorists.
A day after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge put New York, Washington and other money centers on a code Orange, or "High" alert for attack -- the nation's second highest level of readiness -- security was visibly stepped up.
Unlike previous alerts, this one specifically mentioned buildings of the World Bank (news - web sites) and International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) in Washington, Citigroup and the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) in New York and Prudential Financial in New Jersey as being at risk.
The latest threat is aimed squarely at the heart of the capitalist system -- Citigroup is the world's largest financial services firm, the NYSE the world's biggest stock exchange, Prudential is a major insurance firm and the IMF (news - web sites) and World Bank are used to head off global economic crises.
Clad in body armor and wielding rifles, police guarded sites in New York, where almost 2,800 people were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that brought down the World Trade Center. This time officers were on alert for possible truck bombs, suicide bombers and chemical and biological attack through heating and air conditioning systems.
In Washington, some streets were shut to traffic and police set up a temporary security perimeter around the U.S. Capitol to inspect suspicious cars and trucks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell at the Stock Exchange, just blocks from where the Trade Center's Twin Towers once stood, to signal business as usual.
"New York City is not going to be cowed by terrorists, make no mistake about it," he said after breaking ground on a new Bank of America building in midtown.
'SYMBOL OF DEFIANCE'
Republican Gov. George Pataki said the Manhattan skyscraper groundbreaking was "a symbol of defiance to those who would have us live in terror or live in fear."
The latest terror warning was prompted by Pakistan's capture of a suspected al Qaeda computer expert -- Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, also called Abu Talha -- which yielded documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches, U.S. officials told Reuters.
"It's greater specificity beyond what we've seen before," one U.S. official said. "And they're planning something soon."
Security was ramped up at bridges and tunnels in and out of the city and at buildings named in the latest alert, such as Citigroup headquarters in midtown Manhattan where employees had their identification checked and bags searched. First lady Laura Bush met employees there.
At the IMF and World Bank, where security was already tight, extra police guarded entrances and about 1,000 World Bank employees met to discuss upgrades to security.
Barricades were erected at Prudential in Newark, New Jersey, to guard from truck bombs. Security firms said they were flooded with requests for advice and more armed guards.
The U.S. Border Patrol was beefing up security along the Texas-Mexico border, deploying extra agents as well as cameras, electronic sensors and helicopters.
Workers on Wall Street insisted the latest threats would not affect their lives.
"We are not going to let these guys scare us out of coming to work," said NYSE clerk Chris Trachtenberg.
In Queens, Citigroup employee Ann Buckley said she was "a little scared coming to work today and wanted to stay home but my Dad said, 'Go to work. Don't let those terrorists bother you.' So here I am."
New York's tabloid Daily News echoed that sentiment with an editorial headlined, "Don't let the bastards get us down."
Financial markets were unsettled early in the day but largely recovered after positive corporate earnings and good news about the state of the U.S. manufacturing sector.
The FBI (news - web sites) warned police to watch for bombs in subways and on other public transportation near vulnerable buildings.
"We are a nation in danger," President Bush (news - web sites) said in Washington after he endorsed the creation of a national intelligence director and broadly backed other intelligence reforms recommended by the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We're doing everything we can in our power to confront the danger. We're making good progress," Bush added.
But at a campaign stop in Michigan, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) said Bush was too slow to battle terrorism and his policies had "resulted in an increase of animosity and anger focused on the United States of America."
"The intelligence agencies of our country will tell you ... the people who are training terror, are using our actions as a means of recruitment," Kerry said. (Additional reporting in New York by Christine Kearney, Akeya Dickson and Jeanne King, in Washington by Caroline Drees and Tabassum Zakaria, from Michigan by Patricia Wilson)
