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Two Air Force F-15 warplanes escorted a civilian passenger plane from the United Arab Emirates into John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, as President Obama prepared to speak to reporters about a widening investigation into suspicious packages shipped to the United States by air from Yemen.
The rare military escort for a civilian flight heightened the drama of the still unfolding terrorism investigation, as officials isolated cargo planes at two other American airports and searched a delivery truck in Brooklyn for packages said to have been sent from Yemen to addresses in the United States.
None of those packages proved to be dangerous, but officials in Dubai found one that contained explosive material, and another — the first one to be discovered, in Britain — contained a device that appeared similar to an improvised bomb but contained no explosives.
Cable news networks trained cameras on the skies over New York as the passenger jet, Emirates Flight 201, arrived and landed safely. An American military spokesman said that two Canadian CF-18 combat aircraft were diverted from a training mission to trail the flight across Canadian air space, and when it passed into American air space, two Air Force F-15 warplanes took over escort duties.
A federal law enforcement official said that the plane had a package on board that had originated in Yemen and had some characteristics suggesting that it might be related to the suspicious packages found in Britain and Dubai. The official was not clear about what that connection might be, but suggested that it would be something like a matching address.
While there was no indication that any passenger on board the plane posed a security risk, the official said, the Canadian military made the original decision to provide fighter jet escorts as a precaution, and the United States decided to follow suit.
The official said that the two earlier suspicious packages were addressed to religious institutions. One was to a synagogue, the official said, while the other was addressed to an institution from a different religion.
President Obama was scheduled to speak to reporters att he White House at 4:15 p.n. Eastern time about the security activity. The White House said the president would be joined by John Brennan, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
The decision to put Mr. Obama in front of reporters late in the afternoon — and just four days before the election — suggested that the White House wanted to show that it was quickly engaged in the developing situation. After the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound flight last year, Mr. Obama's White House did not speak publicly about the incident for several days, drawing criticism from Republicans. The roots of that attempted bombing were traced to Yemen as well.
The flurry of security activity on two continents began in the early hours of Friday in Britain, when a suspicious package was spotted in a UPS cargo sorting facility at East Midlands Airport in Donington, England, near Birmingham and 100 miles north of London. The shipping facility was evacuated.
In the package, officials found a toner cartridge that appeared to have been tampered with in a way that made it resemble an improvised bomb. But tests for the presence of explosives were negative, a law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
The official did not have specific details on what was found, but added that it was "not an explosive." The Associated Press and CNN reported that the toner cartridge had wires and an electronic circuit board attached to it and that it was covered with a white powder.
An alert at the East Midlands airport was raised at 3.30 a.m. local time and later lifted, only to be reimposed at 2 p.m. on Friday. Four hours later, a wide area around the cargo center remained cordoned off, with police and counter-terrorist units searching the area.
A statement posted on the UPS web site said the company was cooperating closely with authorities in Britain and the United States. "Because these incidents are still being investigated, we don't have any further details." the statement said.
Hours later, officials isolated UPS cargo planes that landed at Philadelphia and Newark airports on Friday morning because they were carrying packages that appeared to have the same origin as the suspicious device discovered in Britain. A UPS truck in Brooklyn was also stopped and checked on Friday. Those packages were not found to pose any danger.
The government in Yemen has begun an investigation, its embassy in Washington said in a statement. "We are working closely with international partners — including the U.S. — on the incident," Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the embassy, said in the statement. He noted that no UPS cargo planes land or take off from Yemeni airports, nor are there direct flights to Britain or the United States from Yemen.
But FedEx does ship out of Yemen, and on Friday, FedEx officials said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation confiscated a suspicious package at the company's facility in Dubai. "The shipment originated in Yemen, and as an additional safety measure, FedEx has embargoed all shipments originating from Yemen," a statement on the company Web site said. "The company is cooperating fully with the authorities on this matter; any additional information regarding this matter must come from the F.B.I."
A statement posted on the UPS web site said the company was cooperating closely with authorities in Britain and the United States. "Because these incidents are still being investigated, we don't have any further details." the statement said.
Federal officials warned synagogues in the Chicago metropolitan area to be on alert, said Linda Haase, associate vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
"We were notified about this earlier this morning," Ms. Haase said in an interview. "We are taking appropriate precautions and we're advising local synagogues to do the same."
By the afternoon, Jewish institutions throughout the nation were being told by the Anti-Defamation League to step up their security. "Law enforcement asked us to reach out to the Jewish community to be on alert, to be vigilant, in particular for packages," Steven Sheinberg, the director of community security at the League said in an interview. "We have heard of no specific threat, but these things are unfolding and progressing."
He added that organizations are experienced at dealing with increased security, and that in advance of the sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday, "people shouldn't be scared to go to the Jewish communal institutions tonight."
As news of the alerts and investigations unfolded throughout the day, government institutions confirmed that officials in the United States, at least, did not find any threatening materials in the packages.
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that it was "aware of and monitoring reports of potentially suspicious items onboard cargo flights that landed safely at Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International airports. Out of an abundance of caution, the planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials and swept."
Shortly after noon, a spokesman for Newark Liberty International Airport, Steve Coleman, said the package that officials sought on the plane there "has been cleared."
Mr. Coleman said that the item in question was examined in Building 350, the UPS building at the airport, and "was deemed non-threatening."
At a press briefing, New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said investigators had examined a package on a UPS delivery truck at the Chase Bank branch at the Metrotech complex in Brooklyn. The package had come from Yemen and passed through Kennedy Airport, Commissioner Kelly said, and it fit a pattern of such packages. It turned out to be an envelope containing receipts, he said, and posed no threat; neither did another package on the truck that looked similar, he said. Mr. Kelly gave little detail about how the packages came to the attention of the department, except to say their origin in Yemen was a factor.
CNN reported that Philadelphia Fire Department officials had examined a package found on a UPS cargo plane isolated at the airport there, and found it to be harmless.
American military officials have increased their support to Yemen after a Nigerian man suspected of training with Al Qaeda in Yemen tried and failed to explode a bomb hidden in his underwear on a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day.
The alert in Britain came just two days after the country's transport minister said he would listen sympathetically to demands from airlines that security measures for passengers at British airports be eased.
That followed a speech by Martin Broughton, the chairman of British Airways, who criticized the United States for "redundant" checks like screening passengers' shoes and requiring laptops to be removed from carry-on bags at checkpoints.
Mr. Broughton said there was no need to "kowtow to the Americans every time they want something done."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/30plane.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp
The rare military escort for a civilian flight heightened the drama of the still unfolding terrorism investigation, as officials isolated cargo planes at two other American airports and searched a delivery truck in Brooklyn for packages said to have been sent from Yemen to addresses in the United States.
None of those packages proved to be dangerous, but officials in Dubai found one that contained explosive material, and another — the first one to be discovered, in Britain — contained a device that appeared similar to an improvised bomb but contained no explosives.
Cable news networks trained cameras on the skies over New York as the passenger jet, Emirates Flight 201, arrived and landed safely. An American military spokesman said that two Canadian CF-18 combat aircraft were diverted from a training mission to trail the flight across Canadian air space, and when it passed into American air space, two Air Force F-15 warplanes took over escort duties.
A federal law enforcement official said that the plane had a package on board that had originated in Yemen and had some characteristics suggesting that it might be related to the suspicious packages found in Britain and Dubai. The official was not clear about what that connection might be, but suggested that it would be something like a matching address.
While there was no indication that any passenger on board the plane posed a security risk, the official said, the Canadian military made the original decision to provide fighter jet escorts as a precaution, and the United States decided to follow suit.
The official said that the two earlier suspicious packages were addressed to religious institutions. One was to a synagogue, the official said, while the other was addressed to an institution from a different religion.
President Obama was scheduled to speak to reporters att he White House at 4:15 p.n. Eastern time about the security activity. The White House said the president would be joined by John Brennan, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
The decision to put Mr. Obama in front of reporters late in the afternoon — and just four days before the election — suggested that the White House wanted to show that it was quickly engaged in the developing situation. After the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound flight last year, Mr. Obama's White House did not speak publicly about the incident for several days, drawing criticism from Republicans. The roots of that attempted bombing were traced to Yemen as well.
The flurry of security activity on two continents began in the early hours of Friday in Britain, when a suspicious package was spotted in a UPS cargo sorting facility at East Midlands Airport in Donington, England, near Birmingham and 100 miles north of London. The shipping facility was evacuated.
In the package, officials found a toner cartridge that appeared to have been tampered with in a way that made it resemble an improvised bomb. But tests for the presence of explosives were negative, a law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
The official did not have specific details on what was found, but added that it was "not an explosive." The Associated Press and CNN reported that the toner cartridge had wires and an electronic circuit board attached to it and that it was covered with a white powder.
An alert at the East Midlands airport was raised at 3.30 a.m. local time and later lifted, only to be reimposed at 2 p.m. on Friday. Four hours later, a wide area around the cargo center remained cordoned off, with police and counter-terrorist units searching the area.
A statement posted on the UPS web site said the company was cooperating closely with authorities in Britain and the United States. "Because these incidents are still being investigated, we don't have any further details." the statement said.
Hours later, officials isolated UPS cargo planes that landed at Philadelphia and Newark airports on Friday morning because they were carrying packages that appeared to have the same origin as the suspicious device discovered in Britain. A UPS truck in Brooklyn was also stopped and checked on Friday. Those packages were not found to pose any danger.
The government in Yemen has begun an investigation, its embassy in Washington said in a statement. "We are working closely with international partners — including the U.S. — on the incident," Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the embassy, said in the statement. He noted that no UPS cargo planes land or take off from Yemeni airports, nor are there direct flights to Britain or the United States from Yemen.
But FedEx does ship out of Yemen, and on Friday, FedEx officials said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation confiscated a suspicious package at the company's facility in Dubai. "The shipment originated in Yemen, and as an additional safety measure, FedEx has embargoed all shipments originating from Yemen," a statement on the company Web site said. "The company is cooperating fully with the authorities on this matter; any additional information regarding this matter must come from the F.B.I."
A statement posted on the UPS web site said the company was cooperating closely with authorities in Britain and the United States. "Because these incidents are still being investigated, we don't have any further details." the statement said.
Federal officials warned synagogues in the Chicago metropolitan area to be on alert, said Linda Haase, associate vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
"We were notified about this earlier this morning," Ms. Haase said in an interview. "We are taking appropriate precautions and we're advising local synagogues to do the same."
By the afternoon, Jewish institutions throughout the nation were being told by the Anti-Defamation League to step up their security. "Law enforcement asked us to reach out to the Jewish community to be on alert, to be vigilant, in particular for packages," Steven Sheinberg, the director of community security at the League said in an interview. "We have heard of no specific threat, but these things are unfolding and progressing."
He added that organizations are experienced at dealing with increased security, and that in advance of the sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday, "people shouldn't be scared to go to the Jewish communal institutions tonight."
As news of the alerts and investigations unfolded throughout the day, government institutions confirmed that officials in the United States, at least, did not find any threatening materials in the packages.
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that it was "aware of and monitoring reports of potentially suspicious items onboard cargo flights that landed safely at Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International airports. Out of an abundance of caution, the planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials and swept."
Shortly after noon, a spokesman for Newark Liberty International Airport, Steve Coleman, said the package that officials sought on the plane there "has been cleared."
Mr. Coleman said that the item in question was examined in Building 350, the UPS building at the airport, and "was deemed non-threatening."
At a press briefing, New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said investigators had examined a package on a UPS delivery truck at the Chase Bank branch at the Metrotech complex in Brooklyn. The package had come from Yemen and passed through Kennedy Airport, Commissioner Kelly said, and it fit a pattern of such packages. It turned out to be an envelope containing receipts, he said, and posed no threat; neither did another package on the truck that looked similar, he said. Mr. Kelly gave little detail about how the packages came to the attention of the department, except to say their origin in Yemen was a factor.
CNN reported that Philadelphia Fire Department officials had examined a package found on a UPS cargo plane isolated at the airport there, and found it to be harmless.
American military officials have increased their support to Yemen after a Nigerian man suspected of training with Al Qaeda in Yemen tried and failed to explode a bomb hidden in his underwear on a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day.
The alert in Britain came just two days after the country's transport minister said he would listen sympathetically to demands from airlines that security measures for passengers at British airports be eased.
That followed a speech by Martin Broughton, the chairman of British Airways, who criticized the United States for "redundant" checks like screening passengers' shoes and requiring laptops to be removed from carry-on bags at checkpoints.
Mr. Broughton said there was no need to "kowtow to the Americans every time they want something done."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/30plane.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp