Security tightened after New York terror threat
“If I’m going to make a mistake, you can rest assured it is on the side of being cautious,” Mr Bloomberg said at a news conference, flanked by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But he stressed that he did not think that any mistake had been made.
“We did exactly the right thing,” Mr Kelly said.
His remarks came after authorities briefly closed part of Penn Station and commuters headed to work under the watchful eyes of police.
A discarded soda bottle filled with an unidentified green liquid was found at Penn Station during morning rush hour, Amtrak officials said. Mr Kelly said it was a type of drain-cleaner substance; it did not pose a threat to passengers and was removed for testing.
A majority of the station was reopened by about 10.45am (3.45pm Irish time), more than an hour after it was closed.
Officials in New York revealed the threat on Thursday, saying an FBI source warned that terrorists had plotted to bomb the subway in coming days. But Homeland Security officials in Washington downplayed the threat, saying it was of “doubtful credibility.”
Mr Bloomberg called it the most specific terrorist threat that New York officials had received to date, and promised to flood the subway system with uniformed and undercover officers.
At the Port Authority Bus Terminal yesterday, more officers were visible on the streets, and one lane of traffic on Ninth Avenue was reserved for emergency vehicles.
The New York Police Department boosted existing measures to search for bombs in commuters’ bags, brief cases and luggage. The threat also involved the possibility that terrorists would pack a baby stroller with a bomb, a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The official said the threat was “specific to place” and that the window for the attack was anywhere from Friday through at least the weekend.
In Washington, US President George W Bush said that New York City officials had exercised their own prerogative in publicising the threat. Asked if he thought New York officials had overreacted, Mr Bush said: “I think they took the information we gave and made the judgements they thought were necessary.”
A counter-terror official, who was briefed about the threat by Homeland Security authorities and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the intelligence did not reflect “on-the-ground, detailed, pre-surveillance” methods consistent with credible information. Rather, the official said, the intelligence was similar to “what can be found on the Internet and a map of New York City.”
The law enforcement official in New York said that city officials had known about the threat at least since Monday, but held the information until two or three al-Qaida operatives were arrested in Iraq within the past 24 hours.
Those arrested had received explosives training in Afghanistan, the same official said yesterday. They had planned to travel through Syria to New York, and then meet with an unspecified number of operatives to carry out the bombings.
On Thursday, a television station said it held off on reporting about the subway threat for two days because officials in New York and Washington voiced concerns that public safety could be affected and ongoing operations jeopardised.
WNBC reporter Jonathan Dienst, who covers security and terrorism issues, said he started making calls about the threat on Tuesday. Local and federal officials then got in touch, expressing concern that airing the story would do damage.
An estimated 4.5 million passengers ride the New York subway on an average weekday. The system has more than 468 subway stations.
In July, the city began random subway searches following the London train bombings.
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