U.S.-State Task Force Works to Detect Plots
By Brian MacQuarrie, The Boston Globe
As a terrorism target, the waterfront skyline that federal prosecutor Gerard Leone sees from his ninth-floor window at the US Courthouse in Boston must rank among the most compelling on the Eastern Seaboard.
The cluster of gleaming skyscrapers towers over a crowded city that holds hundreds of thousands of workers, a critical highway system, and the chilling potential to suffer an attack with global impact.
Now, with the holiday season in full swing, law enforcement officials concede that the chances of a terrorist act in Boston increase.
“I don’t think you can underestimate the potential of that risk,” US Attorney Michael Sullivan said.
“There is a heightened awareness with everyone in public health, public safety, and emergency departments as to what can likely happen,” said Leone, the first assistant US attorney, who created the state’s antiterrorism task force.
As a result, Leone said, an integrated web of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies is assessing fresh information about possible terrorist activities from the perspective that an attack at this time of year might be attractive for its symbolism and significance.
“You might want that attack to coincide with something that is very American,” Leone said, citing the exuberance with which the United States celebrates Christmas and New Year’s.
Leone, who supervises the antiterror task force directed by federal prosecutor Michael Ricciuti, would not divulge any specifics about surveillance and prevention methods planned for the holidays. Recent moves, however, show that vigilance is on the increase as the task force pores daily through what Leone described as a mountain of information and possible leads.
Leone said extra security will be in place on First Night, though probably not noticeable to most partygoers.
New Year’s Eve celebrants might detect added layers of protection on subway cars, trolleys, and trains that will be shuttling hordes of people into the city. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will deploy extra uniformed and plainclothes officers at key, traffic-heavy locations around the system, and will dispatch its Explosives Detection Unit to roam the transit network in search of suspicious packages, said MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo. Officers also will ride subway trains before First Night to check tunnels and rights-of-way for bombs and illegal activity.
At Logan International Airport, no new measures will be implemented during the holidays, according to Jose Juves of the Massachusetts Port Authority.
“Massport will maintain our current security posture, which goes above and beyond the federal requirements,” Juves said. “We haven’t received any information from any intelligence sources that would indicate an increased risk (during the holidays) over and above what exists today.”
In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, when two planes from Logan were hijacked and struck New York’s World Trade Center, the airport’s security arsenal has added random roadblocks, behavioral profiling, and hand-held computers to run background checks on passengers, Juves said.
This month, a new intelligence analyst devoted exclusively to the antiterror effort began work at the US attorney’s office.
The state Department of Public Health, Leone said, will be giving smallpox vaccinations to the 150 emergency workers who would respond first to any use of the disease as a weapon. And the local terror assessment, as it is nationwide, remains at the “significant-risk” level of Condition Yellow.
“You have to assume that we are not going to be spared,” Ricciuti said, “and that we have to prepare and act accordingly.”
“There will be people in the field today, on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, that are ready to respond,” Leone added.
The sources of potential terror information, which have been “constant and continual,” have been as varied as they have been voluminous, Leone said.
One pipeline has been military intelligence gleaned from Afghanistan and surrounding countries, he said. Other leads come from more mundane sources, such as cases of possible document fraud, like fake passports and driver’s licenses, according to Sullivan.
“The types of information relate to people or places, typically, that link to criminal activity or threatened criminal activity,” Leone said. “There are scores of thousands of leads and information that we’ve needed to assess.”
The recent federal search of Ptech Inc., the Quincy software company that received start-up capital from a Saudi investor suspected of financing terrorism, is one example of an ever-widening range of investigations. Leone stressed, however, that the Ptech probe was financial in nature. CEO Oussama Ziade said he’s been assured by the US attorney’s office that no company employees were a target of the probe.
James Jajuga, the state director of public safety, concurred with his federal counterparts that the intensity of antiterror surveillance has been ratcheted up during the holidays.
“We’re asking our people to stay extra vigilant and alert,” Jajuga said. “Not that we’ve heard anything specific, but this is a holiday period and there will be a lot of people out at various locations.”
Law enforcement officers will continue to be stationed at the former Yankee Rowe nuclear plant, even though the facility has been decommissioned. In addition, National Guard troops will remain posted at the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth, Jajuga said. Radiological checks are also continuing at possible targets around the state.
“We don’t want to be taken by surprise,” Jajuga said.
To that end, Jajuga convenes a biweekly meeting of cross-jurisdiction officials with oversight over critical, potentially vulnerable sites and services. High-ranking officers from myriad agencies, ranging from the State Police to port security, to the state fire marshal, to the state Department of Public Health attend the session to discuss possible threats and the status of the entire antiterror effort.
“I’ve never, ever seen the level of cooperation between federal, state, and local that I’m seeing now,” Jajuga said. “It’s fantastic.”
Reinforced scrutiny is prevalent across the law enforcement spectrum, Sullivan said. “Our highest priority now,” he said, “is terrorism.”