StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

DHS Announces “No New Year’s Eve Threat”

After all of the debate and hubbub about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approach to security…especially to the measures taken with backpack searches and subway security after the London attacks, the Department of Homeland Security has declared: 1) New Years’ Eve is safe with no known threats; 2) NY City is a "model" for holiday security.

Official: No known New Year’s terror threats
Homeland Security doesn’t see any heightened risk due to Saddam verdict
Americans should ring in the new year without undue worry about a terrorist attack, the White House homeland security adviser said Thursday.

“People ought to come, have a good time, they ought to feel confident,” Frances Fragos Townsend said in a nationally broadcast television interview.

Townsend said that while the Bush administration takes every threat seriously, it has heard of no plot or plan that should cause alarm as the nation celebrates New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day…

Somehow I didn’t realize that Ms. Townsend was still around.

White House adviser says NYC a model for holiday security
…Townsend said that she and other administration officials have been coordinating closely with local law enforcement agencies in preparation for the New Year’s celebrations, noting she’d spent a day with New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

"They laid out what their security plan is. New York is a model of how a large city, an urban government, approaches this," she said.

"Everybody (in law enforcement) works on New Years’ Eve. People ought to come, have a good time, ought to feel confident.

… We feel real confident of the steps police departments are taking."

Townsend said that federal officials "don’t see a particular threat geared toward" observations of the New Year’s holiday.

New Years preparations begin in NYC
12/27/2006 8:30 PM
…an estimated one million people are expected to be in Times Square, and once again this year, security will be tight.

Previously:
New York City Underground Tunnels Vulnerable to Attack
24 Dec 2006

NYPD Buys and Deploys Explosive Detection Equipment
26 Jul 2006

Thoughts on the NYC Subway Threat
7 Oct 2005

NYC Subway - A Few Got Advanced Warning
13 Oct 2005

NY City’s Secret War on Terror
4 Oct 2005

I’m still having a problem adjusting to Central Time and knowing that when the ball drops in Times Square, I’ll still have an hour to go.

Storm, who is praying for a peaceful and joyous New Year’s Eve throughout the country and the world…but especially in New York City (for personal reasons)…[I hate tempting fate]

"Getting a big group of people together is always something you worry about terrorism, but I think that every bit of evidence shows that you are probably safer on New Years Eve in Times Square than any place else," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"We have no known threats to New York, certainly something we monitor very closely, all indications it will be a very happy and festive evening," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.