High security as US terror alert kicks in

Amy Westfeldt, New York

City officials told residents to be vigilant, but to go about their business. However, city streets, and particularly traffic aboard subways, was sparse.

Four uniformed police officers and a bomb-sniffing dog patrolled the station on Saturday. Officers were also seen guarding popular tourist spots like the Plaza Hotel and Tiffany & Co. jewellery store.

The Bush administration raised the national terror alert from yellow to orange on Friday.

Attorney General John Ashcroft cited an “increased likelihood” that the al-Qaida terror network would attack Americans, noting that hotels and apartment buildings were possible targets.

Stepped-up protections stretched across the country, from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta yesterday(OK). Nuclear facilities in California and Washington state and some utilities put security plans into action.

A high-ranking law enforcement source said the measures came in response to intercepted communications between suspected terrorists, suggesting New York as a target.

Investigators were especially concerned about the possibility of chemical, biological or radiological attacks and information they received raised specific concerns about attacks on hotels and subways, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Governor George E. Pataki called up a special Air National Guard unit trained to handle bioterrorism and placed the state on orange alert. The city has remained on orange alert, the second-highest, since September 11, 2001.

Security officials planned to enforce a rule at airports that bans public parking within 300 feet of any terminal buildings, said Mark Hatfield, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. Additional passenger screening and random car searches would also occur at Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports.