Report: NYC Commuter Rail Tunnels Vulnerable to Attack
Friday, December 22, 2006
NEW YORK — The explosion from a small bomb could flood commuter train tunnels between New York and New Jersey in a matter of hours, according to a new government analysis that suggests the PATH rail system is more vulnerable than initially thought, a newspaper reported Friday.
The draft analysis, obtained by The New York Times, showed that the PATH system's four tunnels are structurally fragile enough that the damage from a bomb small enough to be carried onto a train could allow 1.2 million gallons of water per minute to gush into a tunnel and flood the system.
About 230,000 people use the PATH system each weekday.
The analysis, characterized as preliminary and continuing, was based on work by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. The Times obtained it from a government official it did not identify but who it said was troubled by the response from the Port Authority.
A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the PATH system, defended the system's safety......more
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238276,00.html
Global Terror Concerns Rise For Holidays
(CBS/AP) Australia is warning of possible terrorist attacks in Indonesia around Christmas.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says there has been information about "possible specific terrorist attacks."
Downer did not give details but said churches were among the places targeted in the past. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Authorities in Indonesia say they have no reason to believe terrorists are plotting attacks during the holiday but thousands of troops will be deployed to guard churches.
There have been terror attacks in Indonesia every year since 2002 but with no attack yet in 2006, some worry that another blast is imminent......
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/22/world/main2292065.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2292065