New Year's Eve security highest ever

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Black Hawk helicopters, radiation monitors, snipers, police checkpoints, metal detectors, restricted air space and Coast Guard boarding patrols: It's the Homeland Security Department's way of saying, "Welcome to the New Year's Eve party, we've got you covered."

America on high alert for a terrorist attack has military and law-enforcement officials across the country ramping up homeland security to its highest ever to guard New Year's Eve celebrations in major metropolitan areas.

Air space will be closed or restricted above the District, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, all college football bowl games and the New Year's Day Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

Security is unprecedented at the Times Square celebration in New York City, where 700,000 people must pass through a metal detector to watch the descent of the Waterford crystal New Year's Eve ball.

"Our police department has done a great job keeping us safe, and we expect tomorrow night to be no different," New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference yesterday. "Members of the police department's Hercules team, officers assigned to the bomb squad, an aviation unit and mounted police will all be on duty."

Black Hawk helicopters and radar-equipped Citation jets will patrol the skies, while snipers perch on nearby rooftops and thousands of police officers patrol the crowd. Commercial trucks will be stopped and searched, and boats will patrol the harbor.

The National Guard stands ready in case of a biological or chemical attack, and the festivities will begin after the bomb squad sweeps Time Square for explosives.

Some security measures will be visible, others won't, said Tom Ridge, Homeland Security chief.

"It's a national alert, and we're taking national precautions," Mr. Ridge said.