New York Stock Exchange Activates Emergency System

Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced on August 1 a possible terrorist attack on major financial institutions in New York, Washington, and New Jersey.

The New York Times reported on August 2 that the threat was based on specific information collected from an Al-Qaeda computer technician arrested on July 13 in Pakistan.

Terrorist Attack Warning—

Secretary Ridge said at a press conference that he would raise the threat level from code yellow to code orange, which indicates high risk. The threat level in other areas will remain at code yellow as it has been.

The possible targets are five buildings: the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup buildings in Manhattan; Prudential Financial in Newark; and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.

According to Secretary Ridge, the attacks are predicted to utilize car or truck bombs, and the potential threat will continue until the November 2 presidential elections.

Furthermore, the New York Times reported that Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year-old computer engineer, was arrested in Pakistan and through him, the U.S. authorities found “documentary evidence” that confirmed Al-Qaeda’s plans to attack financial centers around New York. The intelligence authorities obtained the “documentary evidence” on July 30.

On doubts arising over whether the Bush administration is politically using terrorist attack threats, Senator Joe Lieberman (Democrat, Connecticut) said in an interview with CNN that such a thing was unthinkable.

A Look at New York—

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly summoned corporate security directors of the 13 major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, and discussed measures to prevent the attack from occurring, on August 1.

New York City is more alert to the warnings because the Republican Convention will be held at Madison Square Garden from August 30 to September 2. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “We have ramped up security even further at the named locations as well as at other potential targets, and we have increased monitoring of truck traffic and checkpoints on our bridges and tunnels.” Bloomberg added that financial institutions should check for security, but work as usual.

Meanwhile, on August 1, the New York Stock Exchange building, to which traffic has been forbidden since 9/11, was the same as usual, with tourists taking pictures.

The New York Stock Exchange prepared an emergency trading floor and backup computer to continue transactions in case something happens and the trading floor does not function. In addition, in order to show faith to the security provided by New York City, Mayor Bloomberg will ring the bell to start the market on August 2.

Citigroup, which was also targeted by terrorists, e-mailed its employees that it was doing its best to guarantee the security of their employees.

Kwon-Heui Hong konihong@donga.com