In U.S., Vigilance Is Urged

Law enforcement officials nationwide were bracing Sunday for what the FBI called the “high possibility” that terrorists will attempt a retaliatory strike against Americans in response to the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan.

In the tense hours after the bombing began, the FBI sent out warnings to police, airports, utilities and thousands of other potentially vulnerable sites, urging authorities to maintain “the highest level of vigilance” and prepare for the threat of further terrorist attacks.

There was no immediate counterpunch from terrorist groups. But signs of unprecedented preparations--and anxiety--were present around the country, even as Osama bin Laden, in a tape-recorded message aired Sunday, warned that Americans “will not live in peace” unless they bow to his demands.

In Washington, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission called in extra personnel to staff an emergency operations center in the event of an attack, and the White House security detail shepherded Vice President Dick Cheney to an undisclosed location as a precaution.

In Los Angeles, federal authorities were particularly vigilant over the major movie studios because of earlier threats of terrorist retaliation. The city immediately activated its underground emergency operations center and police went on tactical alert. To bolster its personnel, the LAPD kept its morning-shift officers on duty throughout the afternoon, though no terrorist-related incidents were reported.

Anaheim police intensified patrols around Disneyland, another potential target. The California Highway Patrol reverted to precautions put in place in September by dispatching helicopters and additional cars to keep watch on the crucial California Aqueduct and elements of the electricity grid, said Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick.

In New York, heightened security probably will include checks of bags and even requirements that workers show photo identification to get into some buildings, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.

“What we have to ask of people right now . . . is to have more patience when checkpoints have to be done, more checking of luggage or bags has to be done, or if we get a threat and we have to evacuate a building,” Giuliani told Associated Press.

He asked New Yorkers to “just realize that we have to be . . . a lot more careful now than maybe we have in the past, and almost accept it as part of our way of life.”

Armed National Guardsmen arrived, as previously scheduled, at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports to help with security.

At Grand Central Terminal, security had been stepped up after the terrorist attacks, and an adjoining street had been closed to traffic. On Sunday, passengers were reminded to watch their bags and warned that unattended luggage would be searched.

At Pennsylvania Station, more plainclothes officers were on patrol and bomb-sniffing dogs had been deployed.

“I think retaliation’s going to happen [in New York], but I don’t fear it,” said Ron Whillock, who was boarding an Amtrak train to Washington. “I look at it as a random act--much like I would look at an earthquake or a tornado--and I can’t do anything to affect that.”

Heavy security was in place at virtually every entry gate in and out of the country. Airports, already on heightened alert since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, were gearing up for even more stringent levels of security.

Gov. Gray Davis, who appeared Sunday at the final game of the major league baseball season at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, said that National Guard troops already are patrolling Los Angeles and San Francisco international airports, and that more will be phased in at about 30 airports statewide by Oct. 19.

“I believe we’re going to have a heightened sense of security for quite a while,” Davis said.

In the nation’s major ports and waterways, the Coast Guard expanded its armed defense base to levels unseen since World War II.

And overseas, the U.S. State Department warned American travelers and residents abroad of the danger of “strong anti-American sentiment and retaliatory actions.”

“We have done the equivalent of locking down our assets. Every government agency has been instructed to do so,” said a Bush administration official who asked not to be identified.

“All government agencies have put out alerts to their field offices, [saying] that with the onset of military activities we are officially in the window in which the next round of attacks could happen. And now we wait.”

Anxiety was particularly high because of uncertainty about where, or how, terrorists might strike. Perhaps never before has any point on American soil been seen as vulnerable to attack without at least some measure of warning.

Indeed, since last month’s hijackings, law enforcement agencies around the country have taken a series of extraordinary steps to guard against a variety of possible actions.

Crop-dusters were grounded temporarily because of the threat of a biochemical attack, and truckers with hazardous-material licenses were scrutinized for possible terrorist ties. Nearly 600 people swept up in the hijacking investigation were arrested, and immigration rules were suspended so that nonresident suspects could be jailed indefinitely without being charged.

Airport security on the ground and in flight has been beefed up significantly, and federal buildings have installed new metal detectors and closed off normal entrances.

In many places, the extra security measures remain in place, and officials said there was no reason to boost them further. However, Davis said California officials held briefings last week in Ontario and Burbank with medical personnel to inform them of actions they should take in the event of a bio-terrorism attack.

On Sunday, the 9th Civil Weapons of Mass Destruction Team, one of the country’s nine National Guard units trained to respond to biological and chemical weapons threats, said it was in constant contact with Los Angeles’ terrorist Early Warning Group and remained on 24-hour watch at its headquarters at the Joint Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos.

“We have our operations center up and running, and it will remain so from here on out,” said Capt. Mike Thompson, the team’s operations officer. “We have a five-man team that’s within arm’s reach of the armory and two who are there at all times.”

Meanwhile, the San Onofre nuclear power plant remained on the highest stage of alert, as did nuclear facilities and weapons stations throughout the nation.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer emphasized Sunday after the bombing began that “threats do remain. . . . This is a war.”

President Bush said he appreciates the fear that many Americans are feeling, but he urged people to be patient as they are forced to give up some conveniences in the name of security.

“In the months ahead, our patience will be one of our strengths--patience with the long waits that will result from tighter security, patience and understanding that it will take time to achieve our goals, patience in all the sacrifices that might come,” he said.

Even before word of the bombings had become public Sunday morning, top FBI field agents were brought together for a nationwide conference call to prepare for a new stage of the campaign: protecting the country in a time of war.

FBI Director Robert Mueller ran the bureau’s war room at Washington headquarters. And within hours, the FBI put out alerts on two national warning systems to agencies across the country, advising them to put their crisis management teams on standby and reassess their security measures in light of the bombing campaign.

But the added security measures will be only as good as the intelligence that the CIA, the FBI and other U.S. agencies can gather about terrorist threats in the weeks ahead, said John L. Martin, who headed the Justice Department’s security operation for many years.

U.S. intelligence agencies have been roundly faulted for failing to pick up on potential warning signs in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Times staff writers David Ferrell, David Haldane, Christine Hanley, Peter Hong, Carl Ingram, Elizabeth Mehren, Seema Mehta, Geoffrey Mohan, Tony Perry and Julie Tamaki contributed to this report.