Posted on 06/01/2007 4:15:40 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
If Man Can Climb GWB, Imagine What Terrorist Could Do
(CBS) NEW YORK -- After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, security was stepped up on our bridges and tunnels. So how is it that someone was able to climb the George Washington Bridge in the middle of rush hour?
CBS 2 HD got a unique perspective from someone who's climbed the bridge more than a half dozen times.
A Port Authority worker was first to spot the man climbing the George Washington Bridge on Friday morning and within minutes police officials were on the scene. They knew the man likely posed no threat to anyone but himself.
But they kept close watch on him from inside the Port Authority nerve center, where dozens of surveillance cameras give officials a bird's eye view of what's happening on the massive structure.
"We have security procedures in place here we run through on a daily basis," Port Authority inspector Larry Fields said. "We do spot checks, scheduled checks."
So how difficult is it to scale the GWB? CBS 2 HD asked someone who knows first hand, photographer Dave Frieder, who has climbed the bridge legally more than a half dozen times.
"They have these protectors around the cable bands and it's slippery like this, like marble and there's nothing to grab onto, unless he's Spider-Man," Frieder said.
Frieder said he's surprised the climber made it so far, in such a short amount of time.
"Somehow he was able to go around that and get up on the cable," Frieder said. "It's very difficult."
It's no secret New York's bridges are an attractive target for terrorists. In 1993, federal agents foiled a plot by followers of blind Muslim cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman to bomb New York City landmarks, including the George Washington Bridge.
So the question remains, if the threat is so real, how does somebody just walk up and climb up onto the GWB?
"The only way to stop a guy like is if you had a police officer every 10 feet and that's impractical," said Richard Sheirer of Giuliani Partners.
Short of closing down the bridge Sheirer said not much can done to prevent this type of incident.
"There's probably more security you don't see on the bridges and in the tunnels than you don't see and that's the way it should be," Sheirer said.
Port Authority police told CBS 2 HD they are reviewing the tapes from Friday morning's incident to see if any changes in security procedures are necessary.
I heard traffic was backed up for two hours...Which is a second more than usual.
So how is it a seriously infected man on a government watch list can motor across the Canadien/Canadian border undetected? Now don't you feel really a lot safer after 9/11?
I see the same bums everyday living under interstate 90/94, on Division st., in the heart of Chicago. They are probably just crackheads but what a strike target it would be. One third of the city would be snarled and shut down if anything happened there.
State police should clear em out, but they have been there over a year now.
Anybody out there got any ideas on how to clear them out?
They should post signs that anyone caught climbing the cables or span will be shot down.
And then do it.
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