Terrorists Plotted to Cut Cables, Fell Brooklyn Bridge

WikiLeaks releases documents detailing plot
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2011 10:40 AM CDT
Terrorists Plotted to Cut Cables, Fell Brooklyn Bridge
In this July, 26, 2010 file photo, the new Frank Gehry skyscraper joins the Manhattan skyline near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

A terror plot focusing on the Brooklyn Bridge was revealed in 2003, but documents newly released by WikiLeaks show that earlier warnings might've increased security and foiled the plot. Prior to September 11, 2001, the documents reveal, a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan was teaching methods to bring down bridges. After 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed instructed an operative to "destroy the Brooklyn Bridge by cutting the suspension cables," according to one of the documents obtained by the New York Times.

Since 9/11, the Brooklyn Bridge has been very carefully guarded, adding security cameras, police cars, and a police boat. Despite those precautions, the police commissioner admits there was a vulnerability, discovered after the operative was arrested in 2003: a room where it would be possible to cut or weaken some of the thinner cables. The plot, though it seemed far-fetched, "was doable," he said. Ultimately, however, the operative was believed to have been deterred by the post-9/11 security measures in place. (More WikiLeaks stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X