US boosts airport security after Britain bomb scares
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday July 1, 11:47 AM
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US boosts airport security after Britain bomb scares*
The White House on Saturday announced reinforced security at US airports
after two car bombs were found in London and a blazing vehicle crashed
into a terminal at Glasgow's airport.
Security was heightened at airports, train and mass transit stations but
US officials did not raise the alert level nationwide.
"There is no indication of any specific or credible threat to the United
States, no change in the overall security level," said White House
spokesman Tony Snow.
"However at airports there are some alertness-raising measures that the
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has invoked," he said.
"You are likely to see those in the increased presence of some TSA
agents outside terminals, there will be some inconvenience to passengers
in terms of longer wait times."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said top US government
security officials were in "close contact" with their British
counterparts and that US officials met Friday and Saturday to discuss
the events in Britain.
"At this point, I have seen no specific, credible information suggesting
that this latest incident is connected to a threat to the homeland,"
Chertoff said in a statement.
"We have no plans at this time to change the national threat level,
although we remind everyone that the aviation threat level has been
raised to orange since last fall," he said, referring to the "high"
threat level designated by the color orange.
The rest of the United States remains at the yellow or "elevated" level.
But he added that Homeland Security would strengthen security measures
at airports especially in view of the July 4th Independence Day holiday
coming up.
The US announcement came after Britain raised its security alert to
"critical," the highest level, meaning an attack is expected imminently.
On Saturday British police arrested two people following the crash of a
blazing car into a passenger terminal building at Glasgow Airport in
Scotland, one day after the discovery and defusing of the two large car
bombs in London.
Snow said President George W. Bush, who will meet Sunday with Russian
President Vladimir Putin at his family's summer vacation home here on
the Maine coast, had been briefed about the ongoing developments in London.
Bush took a mountain bike ride on Saturday but was kept informed of the
situation at all times, sometimes through a military aide, the spokesman
said. Bush was briefed "before, during and after the bike ride," Snow said.
Airport security was elevated to "create an up-front presence that in
and of itself is a deterrent" to attacks, he said.
"It's important not to get people too spun up; it's also important to
reassure folks that at a time like this, when you're in a global war on
terror, you want to make sure you are not only reassuring the public ...
but making sure that everybody is being vigilant about what may be
coming up."
"It's important to know that we remain committed to being vigilant
throughout the country, including at airports," he added.
Bush had not spoken to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown directly but
there had been "cabinet-level contacts" between the two governments, he
said.
Asked about whether the timing of the attack was to coincide with Brown
taking over as prime minister only days earlier, Snow said: "It's really
impossible to say at this point."
He added: "I would warn against trying to draw over-broad conclusions."