Officials: G-20 Summit security not an issue
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Counterterrorism agencies warned Tuesday of "terrorist interest" in attacking sports stadiums, hotels and entertainment venues, but authorities in Pittsburgh said no such threats confront the Group of 20 summit.
"Right now what we're looking at is a pretty safe environment," said FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Killeen. "We're not really addressing any particular threat, but of course we have eyes and ears on the ground, and we are definitely concerned about potential threats."
Forty agencies will work around the clock from 8 tonight to 10 p.m. Friday in the Multi-Agency Communications Center to handle emergencies, monitor more than 200 surveillance cameras, and safely orchestrate the movements of dignitaries from 19 countries and the European Union attending the G-20 summit that begins Thursday.
Security officials gave the media a tour of the facility but asked that its location not be made public.
A force of 2,500 National Guard troops, 1,200 state troopers, 875 city police and small groups of officers from outside agencies will patrol the Golden Triangle and Oakland during the summit in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, officials said.
National Guard troops, the largest security force, won't be armed during the summit but will be paired with law enforcement officers carrying guns, said Maj. Gen. Randall Marchi of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
"We're here to assist local officials. They requested that posture, but we do have the capability of increasing that posture, depending on the threat," he said.
It's not unusual for National Guard troops to be unarmed, as they were, for example, during the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.
More than 200 Coast Guard members will be armed as they patrol the rivers in 25-foot boats and keep a 4-mile stretch closed to all commercial and recreational traffic.
Between 6 a.m. Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday, no boats will be allowed between Lock Wall One Marina near the 16th Street Bridge on the Allegheny River, the 10th Street Bridge on the Monongahela River and the West End Bridge on the Ohio River, officials said yesterday.
James McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, said companies that haul cargo through the area tried to adjust their schedules accordingly.
Workers will start shutting Downtown roads tonight. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said people will "just have to be creative in getting to work" during the summit.
City Public Safety Director Michael Huss said a "very complex and dynamic plan" is in place to handle any emergency.
"We have a plan assembled that can deal with anything in the region," he said. "We're not going to tolerate any illegal behavior."
Reactions to the counterterrorism warnings were mixed.
The nationwide alert from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security appeared to be triggered by the arrest of Najibullah Zazi, 24, an immigrant from Afghanistan working as an airport shuttle driver in Denver.
Law enforcement officials feared Zazi was involved in a plot to put backpack bombs aboard trains in New York City, similar to attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.
"I feel pretty safe, quite frankly," said Bob Page, spokesman for
the Omni William Penn.
The Downtown hotel
has "some pretty extreme measures in place" to protect more than 800 rooms reserved by the government, including 250 for the president and his support staff, according to federal records.
Port Authority police, including bomb-sniffing dogs, will step up patrols of "T" light rail stations and major facilities, said spokesman Jim Ritchie, even though the agency is on high alert.
Most bus service into Downtown is being shifted to the south and east ends of Downtown to avoid the security perimeter around the convention center.
At Pittsburgh International Airport, the Transportation Security Administration hired 35 additional screeners to help the 300 security officers who run checkpoints, said agency spokeswoman Ann Davis.
Downtown post offices on Grant Street and Fourth Avenue will be closed through Friday, but postal workers will try to deliver mail to addresses in the restricted traffic perimeter.
