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Bloomberg Announces Security To Be Increased On New York Subway System
After threats of possible terrorism, subway security is to be increased.
Kelsey Field
Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: News
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On Oct. 13, New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg made a nationally televised announcement that security would be increased following a credible threat that the subway system would be the next terrorist targeted attack.
The threat explicitly stated that a baby stroller with explosives would be the most likely method of bombing, in addition to other subway bombing methods. United States intelligence officials said that U.S. forces uncovered a plan that included 19 suicide bombers carrying briefcases and strollers to bomb the subway system when they raided an Al-Qaida base near the south of Baghdad.
In response to the threat, security immediately mobilized and began a search through commuters' strollers, bags, brief cases and luggage. The oddity of the threat was the level detail, which the "intelligence community concluded to be of doubtful credibility."
Although New York officials knew about the threat on Oct. 10, they waited to divulge information until Oct. 13, following the arrests of two or three Al-Qaida operatives who were taken captive in Iraq.
However, the news of a terrorist threat did not damper the typical hum of the city. Echoing the general sentiment of New Yorkers, Paul Radtke, of Hoboken, N.J., stated "unless it's something dramatic that's happening, I've got to go to work." Despite the threat, New York remains on code orange, the high alert that it has stayed at since the September 11th attacks, and there are no plans of raising that level.
Although the threat was determined false, Mayor Bloomberg ordered a near shut down of the subway system that hosts 4.5 million riders daily. The mayor has also since been pressed to defend his decision to go public about the terrorist threats, stating that "it is essential that authorities err on the side of caution when protecting the city of eight million people."
Because of the London bombings that occurred last July, local officials have been more inclined in New York to take threats such as these more seriously. However, in wake of the threat, the local officials have had to continually justify their actions when questioned by federal officials, especially those in the Department of Homeland Security, whose eyebrows rose at the city's reaction to the plot.
The threat explicitly stated that a baby stroller with explosives would be the most likely method of bombing, in addition to other subway bombing methods. United States intelligence officials said that U.S. forces uncovered a plan that included 19 suicide bombers carrying briefcases and strollers to bomb the subway system when they raided an Al-Qaida base near the south of Baghdad.
In response to the threat, security immediately mobilized and began a search through commuters' strollers, bags, brief cases and luggage. The oddity of the threat was the level detail, which the "intelligence community concluded to be of doubtful credibility."
Although New York officials knew about the threat on Oct. 10, they waited to divulge information until Oct. 13, following the arrests of two or three Al-Qaida operatives who were taken captive in Iraq.
However, the news of a terrorist threat did not damper the typical hum of the city. Echoing the general sentiment of New Yorkers, Paul Radtke, of Hoboken, N.J., stated "unless it's something dramatic that's happening, I've got to go to work." Despite the threat, New York remains on code orange, the high alert that it has stayed at since the September 11th attacks, and there are no plans of raising that level.
Although the threat was determined false, Mayor Bloomberg ordered a near shut down of the subway system that hosts 4.5 million riders daily. The mayor has also since been pressed to defend his decision to go public about the terrorist threats, stating that "it is essential that authorities err on the side of caution when protecting the city of eight million people."
Because of the London bombings that occurred last July, local officials have been more inclined in New York to take threats such as these more seriously. However, in wake of the threat, the local officials have had to continually justify their actions when questioned by federal officials, especially those in the Department of Homeland Security, whose eyebrows rose at the city's reaction to the plot.