Police man roadblocks with machine-guns and sniffer dogs. Drivers are questioned. Data bases are searched for suspects in potential terrorist attacks. The scene is not the IDF in the Palestinian Authority. It Is New York City on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks.
Ground Zero was turned into a “frozen zone” Sunday prior to anniversary ceremonies that will be attended by President Barack Obama. Concrete barriers, similar to those separating some areas in Judea and Samaria from the rest of Israel, block cars from approaching the area.
Bomb sniffing dogs late Saturday night patrolled Pennsylvania Station and local trains, and federal agents are guarding New York’s federal courthouse with machine guns.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is on national alert amid fears of attempts by terrorists to stage more attacks. Every suspicious object is being treated with gravity, and Dulles Airport outside of Washington D.C. partially closed down Sunday after a bomb-sniffing dog set off an alert as cargo was loaded on a plane. The alert proved to be a false alarm, but not before people at several gates were evacuated in the pre-dawn hours.
Heavily armed New York City police are stationed at bridges and tunnels and are inspecting baggage on subways, similar to the “humiliating” security checks by Israeli security personnel at checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. They have increased vehicle checks and monitoring of bridges and tunnels, are performing more baggage screenings in subways, patrolling outside places of worship and government buildings and conducting bomb sweeps of public garages.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg commented, "The one thing we know is the terrorists have not gone away." City police have prevented at least 13 terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001.
House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King said, "There are literally hundreds if not thousands of names being scrubbed" in a database of suspected terrorists, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s SF Gate website.
It reported, ”Investigators are "going to suppliers and store owners – anyone who's had a car stolen, anyone who's leased certain types of trucks, [and] anyone who sold explosives.”
One sign of the new mood of intense worry in the United States is a report that New Jersey detectives are contacting 2,500 businesses that might be used by terrorists, such as fertilizer suppliers, vehicle rental agencies and hotels.”
"Those are the people you need to connect to; the people who are going to give you the initial leads that are going to get you to the bottom of terror operations," New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes told reporters.