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Mass Transit “Ideal Target” for Use of Unconventional Weapons, U.S. Official Says
Mass transit is an “ideal target” for terrorists to use conventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction, the head of the U.S. National Transportation Security Center said yesterday following the bombings in London (see GSN, July 7). “First, it’s public, so there’s ease of access,” said center Director Brian Jenkins. “Second, these are congregations of strangers that guarantees attackers anonymity. And third, it’s concentrations of people in a contained environment, and that enhances the effects of explosives as well as unconventional weapons. It guarantees them high body counts.” “To say we’re going to seal it off against terrorism cannot be done,” he told the Washington Post. Authorities in the Washington, D.C. area sharply increased patrols of mass transit systems following the London bombings, the Post reported (Layton/Ginsberg, Washington Post, July 8). Other cities also took additional measures. Authorities are monitoring the air and water supply in New York City for biological and chemical agents, the Post reported today. In addition, New York City yesterday morning doubled the number of police officers assigned to patrol its transit systems. A police officer was assigned to every train, with a total of 6,000 officers patrolling the system, according to the Post (Goo/Eggen, Washington Post, July 8). New York Senator Charles Schumer (D) yesterday said he planned to seek a quadrupling of the $100 million in federal funding designated in a homeland security spending bill for mass transit and rail security, the Associated Press reported. “It seems clear mass transit is the terrorists’ target of choice,” he said. “The bottom line is, we are not doing enough to protect mass transit.” He also said $50 million of the homeland security funds should be allocated for developing explosive and WMD detection devices for subways (Sam Dolnick, Associated Press/1010wins.com, July 7). Walk-through explosive detection portals are now being tested at some U.S. airports, but such screening procedures are unlikely to be used in subways or other mass transit systems, Inside Bay Area reported today. While airline security screening is already a fairly time-consuming process, “imagine the line at a subway entrance,” said Susanne Gordon, a Sandia National Laboratory physicist who works on chemical and biological weapons detection. In addition, while explosives leave detectable traces, chemical and biological weapons are more difficult to uncover, she said (William Brand, Inside Bay Area, July 8). One expert said mass transit security issues could not be solved quickly, AP reported. “Very little technology can be applied in this area in an effective way,” said security consultant Rafi Ron (Associated Press/USA Today, July 8). Elsewhere, Japan today responded to the London bombings by boosting security at its nuclear plants, among other measures, AP reported (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 8).
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