![]() ![]() “It may take some time to untangle this,” Rice said in an interview with the BBC. She also visited the British Embassy in Washington to sign the condolence book. Rice telephoned British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw offering assistance. Bush said he urged caution “as our folks start heading to work.” “I instructed them to be in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place here and in London,” Bush told reporters from a summit of world leaders. President Bush, in Scotland for a meeting of the Group of Eight leaders, conferred in a secure video conference with national security and homeland security officials in Washington. The terror alert had not been raised in the United States since last August, when the Homeland Security Department increased it to orange - or high - for financial institutions in Washington, New York and Newark, N.J., in the run up to the November elections. “I think our transit systems are safe,” Chertoff said, adding that there have been vast improvements in the nearly four years since terrorists struck the United States on Sept. Dozens of rush-hour commuters were killed and hundreds injured when four blasts went off in the city’s subway system and a bus. To the contrary, he said those who use mass transit should continue to do so.Ĭhertoff told reporters he was not aware of any specific evidence that had foretold the attacks in London. He stressed that authorities are not asking Americans to avoid using their subways and bus systems in light of the worst attack in London since World War II. At the same time, he said, “we are also asking for increased vigilance” particularly in the U.S. authorities have “no specific credible evidence” pointing toward an attack in the United States. There was no specific intelligence about any threat to the city or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority system, he said.Ĭhertoff said that U.S. “The governor is alarmed by what happened in London,” Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said. That also turned out to be a false alarm. The station was re-opened quickly, Foxwell said.Īnother, similar call had security forces checking for a package at the Rockville station, a few miles northwest of Washington D.C. Train service was not interrupted, but travelers were not allowed into the station while the report was investigated. after a caller reported a suspicious package, according to Metro spokeswoman Linda Foxwell. ![]() The Medical Center Metro stop near Bethesda was temporarily closed at around 10 a.m. “Please report any suspicious packages,” they read, offering a special incident response phone number. In Washington DC’s Metro train system, electronic message boards that normally indicate expected arrival times instead flashed security messages. Police carrying rifles rode some trains, and passengers were urged to report any suspicious activity.Īt the Capitol, public tours continued unabated, while armed police officers patrolled outside, as they do every day. Security was stepped up in Washington, with bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police officers patrolling subways and buses. "We must not allow these cowardly terrorists to ruin our ways of life," he said. I got on this morning and rode downtown just like I always do,” said Mary Ellen Kelly, who lives in midtown Manhattan.īloomberg urged people to go about their business as usual. “I’ve always been aware that the subway could be a target but it hasn’t affected the way I live my life. About 4.5 million passengers use New York City subways daily. Mass transit travel was at normal levels, Pataki said. Mass transit systems throughout the state were getting security assistance from hundreds of national guard and state troopers. Pataki said he had signed an executive order giving state law enforcement officers in Connecticut and New Jersey full authority to police trains entering the city from their states. ![]() New York also deployed escort boats to escort ferries and increased security around the city's water supplies. Thousands of additional New York police officers had been deployed to secure subways and sensitive sites such as the British embassy, Bloomberg said. George Pataki and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg held a briefing at Grand Central Station, presenting the heightened security measures taken by the city and state governments. ![]()
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