KUTV 2 CBS Salt Lake City
May 3, 2006 3:32 pm US/Mountain
New Terror Alert Issued To U.S. Transit Systems
(KUTV / AP) WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Homeland Security issued a new warning to mass transit systems in the United States on Wednesday, to be alert against possible terror attacks.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said there is no specific or credible intelligence to indicate U.S. transit systems are being targeted, but he described the warning as a reminder for transit authority operators, state security advisers and police to remain on guard.
The notice pointed out separate incidents which happened in Europe last fall, and described a foreign man who was arrested after videotaping the interior and exterior of several subway cars and stations, including trash cans and stairwells.
The man taped nearly 17 minutes of subway pictures, the notice said, but "the camera contained no footage of tourist sites."
Three other people were later arrested for similar activity, the notice said.
The new warning said the incidents "prove indications of continued terrorist interest in mass transit systems as targets, and potentially useful insights of the terrorists' surveillance techniques."
Knocke said Homeland Security has no immediate plans to raise the nation's terror threat alert level. It was not immediately clear why the arrests six months ago would prompt the new notice. (Emphasis added.)
However, Knocke said it was not connected to Wednesday's sentencing verdict of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who was sentenced to life in prison.
A spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association, which represents the nation's subway, rail and bus systems, did not have an immediate comment.
U.S. mass transit systems were put on high alert for 36 days last summer after London's deadly July 7 bombings on three subway trains and a bus. Those attacks killed 52 people and the four bombers.
New Terror Alert Issued To U.S. Transit Systems
Allllriiiiighty then....(wink, wink)
Weird.