COULD TERRORISTS BE CASING NEW YORK-PHILADELPHIA-D.C. RAIL CORRIDOR?
By Pierre Thomas & Richard Esposito
May 20, 2004 — Suspicious activity along the New York-Philadelphia-Washington rail corridor — along with the discovery of a concealed infrared electronic device on the tracks near a rail yard in Philadelphia — has triggered federal and regional investigations, ABCNEWS has learned.
While authorities say they do not want to unnecessarily scare commuters, they say the findings fit the pattern of terrorists casing the rail lines for a possible attack. The devastating train bombings in Madrid, Spain, have forced them to take all suspicious activity seriously, they say.
The New Jersey attorney general's office is investigating at least seven instances in the last week of suspected surveillance along New Jersey Transit commuter lines leading into Philadelphia, Trenton and New York City. The incidents include the filming of trains and rail lines by a number of people in an apparently systematic way, authorities say.
The New Jersey Transit trains use the same track as Amtrak's New York-to-Washington run.
Infrared Device Found
In a separate investigation, the FBI's Philadelphia field office is probing the discovery of an infrared sensor that was carefully concealed along the track bed of a Pennsylvania Southeast Transit Authority line.
The device — a commercially available wireless infrared transmitter made for home security use — was discovered, spraypainted black and tucked neatly into the trackside ballast, by a conductor. Such devices transmit a signal when something cuts across their infrared beam.
According to a police report obtained by ABCNEWS, the sensor had the potential to be used as a triggering device for a terrorist bomb. "This sensor could have functioned as designed by sending a radio signal to the receiver which also can be modified as an IED [improvised explosive device]," the report said.
A spokesperson for the FBI in Philadelphia stressed that there was no sign of any terrorist connection and said investigators are "curious" about the device's intended purpose. "We are looking into it because it shouldn't have been there," the spokesperson said.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/US/rail_corridor_terror_040520-1.html
A SINGAPORE Air Force F-16C plane crashed in the US during a routine training mission but it was not clear whether the pilot managed to eject to safety, the Defence Ministry said today.
A statement from the ministry said the plane took off with two other aircraft on a routine night training flight at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona at 8.41pm local time yesterday (12.41pm AEST on Thursday).
sounds like abcnews has been reading fr...i'm shocked.
The device — a commercially available wireless infrared transmitter made for home security use — was discovered, spraypainted black and tucked neatly into the trackside ballast, by a conductor. Such devices transmit a signal when something cuts across their infrared beam
May 20, 2004
(1010 WINS) New York City: Transit officials on Thursday proposed
banning photography on subways and buses for their more than 7
million daily riders to deter terrorists from conducting
surveillance of the nation's largest mass transit system.
NYC Transit, the division of the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority that runs the subways, the buses and the Staten Island
Railway, said the ban on photography and videotaping would not apply
to journalists with valid ID cards or to people with written
permission.
Officials have paid increasing attention to transit security as the
Republican National Convention approaches and following the March 11
Madrid commuter train bombings, which killed 191 people. Emergency
officials staged a mock explosion in a downtown Manhattan subway
terminal on Sunday.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, testifying in Washington, D.C.,
before homeland security officials last November, used as an example
of a security threat the questioning of two Iranian citizens who
were taking video images of the subway tracks on the No. 7 line in
Queens.
NYC Transit President Lawrence Reuter said the rule changes
were "intended to enhance security and safety" for customers and
employees.
Gene Russianoff, attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a commuter
advocacy group, said the photo ban "raises serious First Amendment
issues" by allowing only journalists and people with MTA permission
to take photos and make videos.
The photo and video ban had been part of the rules on ridership
until 10 years ago, when it was removed, NYC Transit spokesman
Charles Seaton said.
NYC Transit also proposed banning passengers from using end doors to
move from one subway car to another, putting feet up on seats and
standing on skateboards on subways or buses, among other changes.
Violators of the rules would be subject to fines. The changes need
MTA board approval after a 45-day period of public comment.
There are so many ways of sensing something like a train going by that it is impossible to eliminate the ability to do that. Many of these devices are available for Car and home security and any hobbiest could come up with ways of there own. The scary thing here is that someone was actually setting up a device to sense the train. Well maybe it is just someone who lives near by and rides the train every day and wants a heads up when the train is arriving...Never know. Kind of like not wanting to miss the bus. Probably not so innocent though- with everything going on like it is.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph!
Is that the ONLY thing the FBI spoksperson knows how to say???
You folks along that rail line, please be careful!