U.S. Airports to Tighten Security Over Terror Fears

Fearful of potential terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered sharply increased security measures at the nation’s airports Tuesday as a direct result of the arrest in Washington state last week of an Algerian man driving a car containing ingredients for four crude bombs.

The effort, as well as a separate move by the U.S. Customs Service to deploy 350 extra agents to remote border crossings, represents a dramatic new public response by the federal government to what a White House official called a “heightened terrorist threat” to U.S. citizens at home and abroad.

The State Department also issued a warning late Tuesday cautioning Americans overseas that terrorist attacks may be directed at religious festivities or other large gatherings to mark the millennium. It urged Americans abroad to keep a low profile and vary their routes of travel.

The FAA’s orders, which range from increased use of devices to check passengers for trace amounts of explosives to a warning not to carry gift-wrapped items, may mean additional delays for air travelers just as the heavily booked holiday season gets into full swing.

The move also suggests the difficulties the Clinton administration faces as it steps up an intense investigation by law enforcement and intelligence agencies and seeks to avoid further alarming a nervous public or casting cold water on scores of planned public events and celebrations across the country.

Officials said Tuesday that the FBI is searching for three possible accomplices of the arrested Algerian, Ahmed Ressam. Investigators and counter-terrorism experts fear he was delivering bomb-making material to others, and thus was part of a larger international terrorist ring.

“Their guess is he’s part of a cell and that there are people who are on this side of the border who he would be dealing with,” said Vincent Cannistraro, former director of counter-terrorism operations at the CIA.

“I think he’s part of a larger organization, given he had false documents,” agreed Frank J. Cilluffo, a counter-terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit think tank here. “That means he’s not a lone wolf.”

The White House repeated previous assertions that no evidence pointed to specific threats against targets in the United States.

“The U.S. is not invulnerable to domestic terrorism, but there’s no specific information now about particular targets here,” White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters. “But I think . . . as we head into the millennium it pays for people to be cautious and vigilant.”

Ressam, 32, was arrested Dec. 14 after he tried to flee on foot from a U.S. customs agent in Port Angeles, Wash., north of Seattle. Ressam had crossed on a ferry from Canada with more than 130 pounds of bomb-making chemicals hidden in the trunk of his car, as well as four homemade timing devices apparently designed to detonate bombs.

Ressam carried a false passport and driver’s license and had reservations to fly the next day from Seattle to New York and connect to a London-bound flight, officials said.

A Customs Service official, who asked not to be identified, said seizures of explosives at the border are so rare that the inspector who first questioned Ressam assumed the stuffed garbage bags in his car held illegal drugs, the usual contraband.

The official said that inspectors at the nation’s borders will be on the lookout for a long list of possible warning signs, including mannerisms and behavior of travelers, types of transportation and other criteria. But he denied that customs agents have created “profiles” that specifically target people of Arabic heritage or other ethnic groups, as some have charged.

The FAA said that it would deploy more uniformed police with bomb-sniffing dogs inside and outside airport terminals. Additional units to detect trace explosives may be used at security checkpoints, and more FAA inspectors will help monitor security operations, the agency said in a statement.

“All passengers are encouraged to be alert for any suspicious, unattended bags, parcels or other items and report them immediately to airport personnel,” the statement said.

The FAA also warned that “those who travel to the airport in anything other than public transportation should be aware that local parking restrictions are being strictly enforced” and that passengers “can avoid inconvenience by not gift-wrapping items they are taking with them.” FAA officials declined to comment further.

Under a 1984 law, the U.S. State Department offers as much as $7 million in rewards for information preventing international acts of terrorism against U.S. civil aviation. The department has paid rewards in “dozens of cases,” an official said.

At Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, officials said vigilance is always the watchword, so no changes are necessary or planned. “We are always at a heightened level of security,” spokeswoman Vicki Mathews said. “We can’t discuss details, but we certainly comply with all FAA mandates and do everything from a security and safety standpoint for our passengers.”

At Los Angeles International Airport, Bernard Wilson, chief of the airport police, praised the FAA order. “It makes sense for the FAA to allay fears of people who may be concerned about traveling. I look at this as a very proactive measure.”

Wilson declined to elaborate on his plans to tighten security. “There will be more [security] people here than you would see normally, but, other than that, I don’t want to go into details.”

Capt. Jim Miller, who oversees Los Angeles Police Department operations at LAX, said the LAPD will cut back training of its bomb-sniffing dog teams to allow more time for actual patrol at the airport. “We’ll be looking to see where we can squeeze out more time.”

James K. Kallstrom, former head of the FBI’s New York field office, warned that the advent of the new millennium on Jan. 1 may be especially tempting for terrorists.

“There’s an awful lot of symbolism connected to this event,” he said. “And we know there are people who hate America and our way of life and what we stand for.”

Thirteen men with apparent ties to Osama bin Laden, the accused mastermind of the terrorist bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, were arrested last week in Jordan. The State Department said Tuesday that “intensive investigative work” had found evidence that the group planned to target “hotels, tour buses and tourist sites” in Jordan.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that attacks still may be planned for this and other parts of the world,” the State Department said.

The warning is similar to one issued Dec. 11 but extends the period of recommended vigilance until mid-January.

Associated Press reported Tuesday night that authorities also were looking for a 31-year-old U.S. citizen from California with ties to Bin Laden. No further details were available.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corp., a Santa Monica-based think tank, said it is unfair to also assume that Ressam had ties to Bin Laden, as some reports have alleged.

“The terrorism phenomenon is not monolithic,” he said. “Even if he has links to Bin Laden . . . that doesn’t mean he’s following Bin Laden’s orders.”

Authorities also revealed Tuesday that two bomb-sniffing dogs were drawn to the same spot in a car stopped Sunday in Beecher Falls, Vt., on the border with Canada. No explosives were found, but officials said they found a false French passport in the coat of a 20-year-old man from Algeria.

The Algerian and his companion were arraigned Tuesday on immigration-related charges. Mark Henry, assistant chief for the U.S. Border Patrol in Swanton, Vt., said in a telephone interview that no obvious links had been found between the Washington and Vermont cases other than that both men are from Algeria.

“There are a million reasons why people come to the United States” illegally, he said. “It could be as simple as a smuggling case. We don’t know.”

Times staff writer David Haldane contributed to this report.