NEW YORK SUBWAY THREAT??

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has received threats against its subway system and is adding extra police officers to protect the transit system, said Tom Kelly, the mass transit agency's spokesman.

"My understanding is there are threats against the system," Kelly said. "We're deploying additional police and canine units as is the New York Police Department."

Kelly declined to comment on any details about the threats. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police chief Ray Kelly also declined to comment on the threat but were set to hold a brief briefing.

NYC Increases Subway Security After Threat
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Authorities were increasing mass transit security after word of a credible threat of a bombing on the city's subway system, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of an official announcement, said the threat is "specific to place, time and method."

"Obviously, this is a significant threat," said Rep. Peter King (news, bio, voting record), R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Updated: 10/6/2005 3:45 PM MDT

NEW YORK - Police will be holding a press conference shortly to detail why the New York subway system has been put on a heightened state of alert.


The alert was issued after a threat or "perceived threat" was made to the subway system. Over 7 million people use the New York subway to commute to work each day.

A CNN reporter in Washington DC says the Department of Homeland Security says it is not aware of a specific threat.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation tells CNN that it is aware of the threat information and that local authorities were notified as a precaution. The agency says there's no indication of an imminent threat.

However, New York Rep. Peter King, R-NY, said to The Associated Press, "obviously, this is a significant threat." He said he got his information from New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Bush says New York officials exercised own prerogative in announcing subway terror threat
10/7/2005, 12:11 p.m. ET
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) ?- President Bush said Friday that New York City officials exercised their own prerogative in publicizing a subway terror threat, declining to second guess that decision or suggest they had overreacted.

"Our job is to gather intelligence and pass it on to local authorities. And they make the judgments necessary to respond," Bush told reporters. Administration security officials had said on Thursday the threat to New York was of "doubtful credibility," a phrase repeated earlier Friday by Bush's spokesman.

"The level of cooperation between the federal government and the local government is getting better and better. And part of that level of cooperation is the ability to pass information on. And we did, and they responded," Bush said during a picture-taking session at the White House with the prime minister of Hungary.

Asked if he thought New York officials had overreacted, Bush said: "I think they took the information we gave and made the judgments they thought were necessary. And the American people have got to know that, one, we're collecting information and sharing it with local authorities on a timely basis. And that's important."

Earlier, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters: "In this case, we notified New York City officials early on of the intelligence information that we had received. And while it is specific, you heard our homeland security officials say it is of doubtful credibility. It is something we continue to analyze."

Police and dogs to patrol.

Wishing New Yorkers well....

New York subway threat seen for Sunday

Sat Oct 8, 2005

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities warned New York officials that a team of "terrorist operatives" planned to attack the subway on Sunday with remote controlled bombs hidden in briefcases or baby strollers, documents show.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent a bulletin to state and city officials on Thursday, the same day that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the threat but withheld details, saying they were classified.

Reuters obtained a copy of the bulletin after it had been reported by the New York Daily News on Saturday. The source of the bulletin asked to remain anonymous because it was still meant for official use only.

Federal authorities "have doubts about the credibility of the threat" and passed it along "to provide increased awareness out of an abundance of caution," the bulletin said.

Bloomberg took it seriously enough to warn the public.

"A team of terrorist operatives, some of whom may travel to or who may be in the New York City area, may attempt to execute an attack on the New York City subway on or about October 9, 2005," the joint FBI/Homeland Security bulletin said.

The bulletin said bombers may have planned to hide explosives in briefcases, suitcases or baby strollers -- the same items Bloomberg warned New Yorkers not to take on the subway or risk being searched by police.

The threat alert was based on an uncorroborated claim to Iraqi authorities that prompted raids by U.S. and Iraqi forces and resulted in two suspects being taken into custody in Iraq, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.

A third was being sought, and the New York Times reported on Saturday that he had been detained, also in Iraq.

U.S. officials said the claim that spurred the raids came from an informant who suggested there was an operation involving more than a dozen operatives in Iraq and the United States.

"There were a lot of unanswered questions about what these people knew," said one official, who asked not to be identified because the information was classified.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities were forced to act because the intelligence was unusually specific, came within months of the July 7 London bombings and involved a U.S. city known to be a target for Islamist militants.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington)