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| New fears of attacks on US political conventions |
| 2004-07-05 |
| The federal authorities, concerned about a terror attack during this summer’s national political conventions, have begun a new effort to identify potential extremists inside the United States, including conducting interviews in communities where terrorists might seek refuge, government officials said. The fears about an incident during the conventions or later in the year have also led state and local officials to impose extraordinary security precautions. Persistent if indistinct intelligence reports, based on electronic intercepts and live sources, indicate that Al Qaeda is determined to strike in the United States some time this year, the officials said in interviews last week. Almost half the budgets in each convention city will be spent on security, local officials said. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Boston at the Fleet Center from July 26 to 29. The Republican National Convention will be held in New York at Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. New York is regarded as a higher risk than Boston by counterterrorism officials because President Bush is a Republican and because of consistent intelligence. "Al Qaeda has unambiguous plans to hit the homeland again," James L. Pavitt, the C.I.A.’s outgoing head of clandestine operations, said in a speech in New York last week, "and New York City, I am certain, remains a prime target." Pasquale J. D’Amuro, the head of the New York F.B.I. office, said in an interview that nearly all of the more than 1,100 agents in the office, the bureau’s largest field division, will be involved in collecting intelligence and other security tasks before the convention. Convention planners expanded their security requirements, at the urging of federal officials, after the March 11 commuter train attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people. While the intelligence is not yet clear or specific enough to justify increasing the country’s color-coded alert level, the officials said, there are signs of rising concern in the government. On Friday, cabinet members were briefed on the latest intelligence, which, administration officials said, indicates Al Qaeda’s intention to strike in the United States, but does not suggest when or where an attack might occur or who might be behind it. Recent intelligence reports have hinted that an attack might involve relatively crude materials in an uncomplicated operation, the officials said, suggesting the possibility of a car or truck bomb rather than a plot relying on sophisticated weapons or training like the commercial aviation studies undertaken by the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some of the information has indicated that potential attackers might not be young Arab men, but religious extremists from other countries, possibly in Africa. For that reason investigators have begun to more closely examine visa holders already in the United States from countries like Somalia, Kenya and Nigeria. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are also starting to conduct interviews in communities where potential terrorists might seek to blend in with local populations. The officials said that the interviews were based on intelligence about who might pose a threat, but would also be patterned on the informational interviews conducted in Arab-American neighborhoods after the Sept. 11 attacks and in Iraqi-American communities at the start of the American-led invasion in 2003. "We think we know the targets that might have great economic impact or cause large loss of life," said James K. Kallstrom, a senior terrorism adviser to Mr. Pataki. "But we know terrorists might not be in proximity to those targets, so we have put a series of tripwires in place throughout New England." In New York, the cost of security is expected to exceed $75 million, of the total convention cost of about $166 million, as concerns have broadened to include not only the week of the convention, but also the weeks before and after it. The Police Department will increase uniformed and plainclothes patrols in many parts of the city, focusing on landmarks, tourist sites, sites related to the convention, bridges and tunnels, airports and simply places where people gather. Much of the focus will be on the subway system. For Boston, the security bill is now estimated to reach $50 million, twice the original estimate and more than half the roughly $95 million overall convention cost. The Secret Service has ordered some 40 miles of roads closed around the Fleet Center, where the Democrats will meet, including Interstate 93, a section of which runs above ground just 40 feet from the arena. The shutdown of major roads near the convention site is the central and most controversial part of a complex security plan. The plan involves multiple police agencies and includes random checks of handbags and packages on buses and subways by police and bomb-sniffing dogs, as well as closed security zones. New York is considered to be a more likely target, but security planners in Boston said that area had many potential targets of its own, including a complex infrastructure, prestigious universities and, perhaps most of all, symbolic sites. "This is the seat of liberty," said Carlo A. Boccia, the city’s director of homeland security, gesturing from the window of his City Hall office toward Faneuil Hall and the Old State House. "You attack that, it’s the very heart of America." The Boston Police Department estimated that the security measures ordered by the Secret Service added about $9.5 million in police, firefighter and medical worker overtime for a total of $32.5 million, the largest portion of the security cost. But Madison Square Garden is not the only concern. Because any attack in the city would probably cause the disruption sought by extremists, Mr. Kelly said, the department will also focus on other events that week, including the U.S. Open tennis tournament and New York Yankees and Mets games. Mr. D’Amuro, of the F.B.I., also expressed concern about the periods before and after the convention. "We know one of the things that Al Qaeda looks at is security measures in place and whether they think they could be successful in carrying out an attack," he said. "And if they don’t believe they will, they’ll postpone it, they’ll put it off to another time." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |