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American Morning
How Long Will Raised Threat Level Last?
Aired January 01, 2004 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Under, the country under a heightened terror alert. New year's celebrations went off without incident. But how long will the raised threat level last?
Jamie McIntyre is following that for us this morning.
He's live for us from the Pentagon -- Jamie, good morning.
Happy New Year to you.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year, Soledad.
And the nation has been under an elevated terror alert and amid very tight security. The new year was rung in in celebrations across the nation without incident. And New York City's Times Square was deemed the safest place in America by Michael Bloomberg. And that appeared to be the case as the night went off without incident.
But the possibility that terrorists might try to use commercial airliners as weapons continued to be the main focus of law enforcement officials.
British Airways Flight 223, en route from London's Heathrow Airport, was escorted to Dulles International Airport by several U.S. fighter jets, according to the airline. It landed last night at Washington's Dulles Airport at 7:00, where the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration conducted what they called a reverse screening of passengers on board the flight; apparently, according to law enforcement officials, because there were some names of passengers on the flight that might have appeared on a terrorist watch list. The passengers were questioned for about -- it was about five hours before everybody was let off that flight. After all of the baggage and passengers were questioned, no arrests were made. And, again, it's just part of the very tightened security procedures.
There have been a number of incidents this week in which the United States has expressed concern about security procedures from a flight. In one case we're learning about, earlier this week, an Aero Mexico flight coming into Los Angeles was turned back after the U.S. expressed concern that the screening procedures for the passengers was inadequate. And, of course, the U.S. remains under that code orange heightened terror alert that was put into place December 21. No indication, no official word how long that elevated state will last. But we're told to expect probably through this week -- Soledad, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre for us this morning.
Jamie, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 1, 2004 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Under, the country under a heightened terror alert. New year's celebrations went off without incident. But how long will the raised threat level last?
Jamie McIntyre is following that for us this morning.
He's live for us from the Pentagon -- Jamie, good morning.
Happy New Year to you.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year, Soledad.
And the nation has been under an elevated terror alert and amid very tight security. The new year was rung in in celebrations across the nation without incident. And New York City's Times Square was deemed the safest place in America by Michael Bloomberg. And that appeared to be the case as the night went off without incident.
But the possibility that terrorists might try to use commercial airliners as weapons continued to be the main focus of law enforcement officials.
British Airways Flight 223, en route from London's Heathrow Airport, was escorted to Dulles International Airport by several U.S. fighter jets, according to the airline. It landed last night at Washington's Dulles Airport at 7:00, where the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration conducted what they called a reverse screening of passengers on board the flight; apparently, according to law enforcement officials, because there were some names of passengers on the flight that might have appeared on a terrorist watch list. The passengers were questioned for about -- it was about five hours before everybody was let off that flight. After all of the baggage and passengers were questioned, no arrests were made. And, again, it's just part of the very tightened security procedures.
There have been a number of incidents this week in which the United States has expressed concern about security procedures from a flight. In one case we're learning about, earlier this week, an Aero Mexico flight coming into Los Angeles was turned back after the U.S. expressed concern that the screening procedures for the passengers was inadequate. And, of course, the U.S. remains under that code orange heightened terror alert that was put into place December 21. No indication, no official word how long that elevated state will last. But we're told to expect probably through this week -- Soledad, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre for us this morning.
Jamie, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
