Guardsmen Patrol GG Bridge - Threat prompts security boost on Golden Gate Bridge

SFGate.com ^ | 8/12/02 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

National Guardsmen patrolled below and federal officials watched the skies over the Golden Gate Bridge during Monday morning's commute, wrapping up a weekend of intensified monitoring due to the latest word of a potential terrorist threat.

The bridge was placed on a "super-heightened" state of alert Friday through Sunday after information was shared through an interagency coalition Friday, said Mary Currie, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District.

[NormsRevenge]

Media Vans Up the Ying Yang ...
DUMP DAVI$ & the Den of Socialists

GO SIMON

[cajungirl]

Alot of media vans on the bridge,all at once?? They better not cluster in one place if you ask me. Wouldn't a terrorist love that?

[Mr. Jeeves]

Alot of media vans on the bridge,all at once??

They aren't on the bridge - they are in a parking lot near the toll plaza at the south end. It was very foggy this morning, so I didn't see any "air surveillance". Bad weather for a terrorist who wants to get attention - had they blown the bridge up this morning no one could have seen it.

[FreedomPoster]

I crossed the bridge twice yesterday (out here on business, went up to wine country). It's a very low-profile presence, I saw no sign of the Nat. Guard, and had plenty of time to look, as it was 45 minutes of stop-and-go to pay the toll and head south.

[Grampa Dave]

KICK THEIR A$$ AND TAKE THEIR GAS!

[YOMO]

Authorities advised Gov. Gray Davis of the threat on Saturday morning, said Steve Maviglio, the governor's spokesman. Davis "took appropriate action," Maviglio said. He would not elaborate................

Let me see. It has been reported, and aired on TV, that armed National Guard troops are standing around the Bridge amid the fog that basicly hides everything above the road way. All this in response to terrorists planning to crash an airplane in to the bridge. It seems to me that the Gov. did take the right course of action. 1. Call out the National Guard in cammos. 2. Call the Media to take lots of Pics. 3. Have PR folks tell the Media what a good Gov. you are.

[moyden]

..."super-heightened" state of alert... ?

A.K.A. Double Secret Probation

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Eight years of education down the drain.

[Blue Screen of Death]

If these folks know us, and I think they do, they know we care much more about people than things. While destruction of an object would cause some upset, it is the loss of life that causes outrage. I think they will only strike if they can kill or injure many people because they know that is what we care about. Bridges and buildings can be rebuilt, lives can not.

[HardStarboard]

>>>I think they will only strike if they can kill or injure many people because they know that is what we care about.<<<

Hitting the Golden Gate Bridge would cause hundreds, if not thousands of deaths! Think how many cars are in the center portion of the bridge at any one time during rush hour.....500, 1000, maybe 1500? Multiply that times 1.6 and you have the number of people that would be found under the bridge if it was brought down.

Now are you concerned that it might be a target?

[GOP_1900AD]

Yep... makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Troops on the bridge to protect from a 747. Now here is a serious question; besides more F-18s in the air, what substantive measures have been taken to beef up our air defenses? (Answer = none.) Anyone truly serious about this would have rolled out, within 6 - 9 months, the sorts of AA guns, SAMs, and dispersed interceptor forces that one would find in any other nation that has come under attack on its own soil. We have done next to nothing. This is an invitation to disaster.

[GOP_1900AD]

Of course, they would score a larger hit in terms of both casualties and economic damage by hitting any one of the following - Bay Bridge, Carquinez Straits Bridge, Dumbarton Bridge, San Mateo Bridge. The Golden Gate bridge, with its ever increasing tolls, notable lack of commercial truck traffic (particularly containers and long haul) and predominance of an elite group of Marin commuters going only as far as the SF financial district, is possibly the LEAST important bridge here in the Bay Area from a purely strategic perspective. Of course, one cannot deny the VISIBILITY that such an attack would receive, in spite of the lesser strategic value to the true economic infrastructure.

[GoreIsLove]

If the Golden Gate Bridge were taken out, it would literally grind all marine shipping to San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Stockton to a halt for a number of weeks, so strategically, it would be pretty substantial.