US lowers transport terror alert
The United States lowered the terror alert on the national mass transport system tonight for the first time since the London bombings.
The warning level will be reduced from code orange, or high, to code yellow, elevated, on buses, subways and trains nationwide.
It was raised on July 7 as the US reacted to the scenes of death and devastation in London, amid fears of a copycat attack.
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said tonight: “There is no specific, credible intelligence information indicating that an attack in the United States is imminent.
“However, we are also aware that the London and Madrid bombings were conducted without warning. Therefore, we will continue to closely monitor and analyse threat information and share that information.”
Police in New York continue to conduct random bag searches on the city’s underground system.
The New York Civil Liberties Union challenged the legality of the policy and is seeking an injunction to halt the searches on the basis that they are conducted without any suspicion of wrongdoing.
But police officials insist the policy is legal and has proved effective since it was implemented in the wake of the second wave of London bombings.
