by Sara Kehaulani Goo, Washington Post
The FBI and the Transportation Department yesterday warned of possible terrorist attacks on the nation’s transportation system, putting U.S. airports and the Metro Transit Police here on alert.
The agencies warned airports and pilots that “terrorists may still be interested in the use of small aircraft for suicide attacks in the U.S.,” a Transportation Department source said.. Metro Transit Police added patrols and deployed canine units in response to a more general security warning about the nation’s transit systems.
Both warnings came almost a week after senior Bush administration officials said that future attacks on the United States would certainly occur but that they did not know when.
The transit-sytstem warning cited no specific threat or target, but transit police went on “high alert” and will remain there during the Memorial Day weekend, said Polly Hanson, deputy chief of the Metro Transit Police Department. Transit officers will wear high-visibility orange vests to make it easier for passengers to identify them, she said.
The aviation alert said the FBI received uncorroborated information that terrorists might attack using smaller planes because many airports had improved security for commercial flights since Sept. 11, the Transportation Department source said.