Airport: Terrorist warnings won’t cause delays

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 | 10:48 a.m.

Despite warnings of possible hijackings by terrorists this summer, McCarran International Airport travelers should not notice any delays due to heightened security measures, officials said.

McCarran officials and airlines were directed Tuesday to double-check security measures in the wake of a new warning of possible suicide al-Qaida hijackings or attacks on airlines.

"All we know is what has been in the news," McCarran spokeswoman Hillarie Grey said Tuesday. Grey said that McCarran has not received new directives on its security measures in light of the latest warnings.

McCarran has operated on heightened security measures since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Grey said. Any new measures taken will be invisible to passengers, she said.

The Transportation Security Administration, which provides security at airports including McCarran, issued a memo Saturday asking airports and airlines to review security measures after intelligence sources suggested al-Qaida might use a commercial airplane for a terrorist attack.

"Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings," the one-page memo stated. "These may also involve commercial aircraft."

Intelligence sources said that teams of up to five people might attempt to seize control of a commercial aircraft either shortly before takeoff or shortly before landing, Department of Homeland Security officials said.

Although security has improved since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with reinforced cockpit doors, federal air marshals and federal screening of passengers and luggage, airlines and airports need to be on guard from now through the end of October, the federal officials said.

TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Luber said she could not release details of the security measures being taken at McCarran and other airports.

"The Department of Homeland Security has asked us not to comment," Luber said.

It was business and pleasure as usual at the airport Tuesday night, with security checkpoints running smoothly and travelers generally unfazed by the warnings.

"I don't get too excited about it," said Phyllis O'Dell, 70, of Safford, Ariz., as she walked toward her gate. "When it's my time, it's my time."

Marcy Monsaas, 30, of Seattle, said the warning "wouldn't be a factor" in her travel plans. "It's just another warning to me," she said.

A few travelers, like 44-year-old Valerie Warren of Kansas City, said they doubted that the warning would help matters.

"People can't do anything," she said. "Leave it up to the government to take care of it."

Intelligence gathered by interrogating high-level al-Qaida detainees indicated that attacks might be targeted at the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia or the East Coast of the United States. Britain, Italy and Australia were allies of the United States in the war against Iraq.

The advisory was issued after phone calls and e-mails were intercepted from known al-Qaida members and suspects detained after the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bombing in May.

The warning said that the hijackers might employ everyday travel items, such as cameras, that could be modified into weapons.

Homeland Security officials said Tuesday there is no immediate plan to raise the nation's threat level, currently at "yellow," or elevated.