New York terror security clampdown

New York police searched trucks, blocked streets and posted machine-gun carrying officers outside financial landmarks a day after the government’s warning that terrorists might target the buildings with bombs.

Thousands of employees at some of the largest financial institutions in America stood in line to get to work Monday, patiently showing identification tags.

“You realize that’s the world you live in, and you deal with it,” said Kenneth Polcari, a trader at the New York Stock Exchange, one of five buildings the government says al-Qaida operatives have studied.

Recent intelligence – including photos, drawings and written documents - indicates terrorists have focused on the stock exchange and The Citigroup Center in Manhattan, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington and Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, officials said.

“What we’re talking about here is a very serious matter based on solid intelligence,” President George Bush said.

Employees at the targeted buildings began their work week with extra checks of bags and identification, added barricades and police officers outside.

Police closed Manhattan streets around Grand Central Terminal and banned trucks from some bridges and tunnels. Trucks passing landmarks or travelling on major thoroughfares also were subject to random searches. In some cases, truck drivers were asked to show documentation on where they were headed.

Police said the restrictions would remain in effect today and would be reviewed daily.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki rang the opening bell at the stock exchange to show confidence in the city’s security response.

Authorities said the terror intelligence did not specify timing of an attack.

In Newark, officials set up concrete barriers and police teams around the 24-story Prudential building, where about 1,000 employees work. They showed identification to get into the building and its underground parking garage.

Greater security was also more visible in the nation’s capital, where authorities have already fortified key buildings against terrorism. Capitol Hill was filled with tourists on a busy summer morning while police went on 12-hour, six-day-a-week shifts in response to the heightened security alert.

Police checked identity cards as employees filed in to the World Bank headquarters. Inside, security guards checked them again. Across the street, guards at the International Monetary Fund swept the underside of cars with detecting devices as they entered the garage.

Late yesterday, Capitol Police announced plans to block all traffic flow around the Capitol, and to search some of the vehicles, to ensure that explosives do not get near the building.

The crackdown was to begin at 4 a.m. (0800 GMT) today.

Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said his officers will block portions of Independence and Constitution avenues – major traffic arteries that run on either side of the Capitol grounds – in the operation.

None of the newly discovered terror intelligence involved specific threats to the Republican convention in Manhattan or the election process, authorities said yesterday. The warnings won’t affect security for the convention, which begins on August 30.