TA-THREATS: Feds Believe Terrorists are Probing Ferries

Officials in Washington State have noticed a pattern of surveillance on the state's ferry system. This has them concerned that terrorists may attack the ferries similarl to an attack on a ferry in the Philippines in February. They have noticed groups of men, and one in particular, repeatedly videotaping and photographing ferryboat operations.



Since the implementation of the Marine Transportation Security Act in July, officials believe that security is much better, but not however foolproof. Casualty rates from such an attack could be high as most ferries are not equiped with sufficent rescue equipment for a full ferry. If multiple ferries are attacked at once, rescue personnel would be spread quite thin, leading to even more deaths.

[edit on 11-10-2004 by Banshee]

I felt that at least someone should comment Thanks for the news post. Good article.

This really doesn't come as a suprise to me. I make the assumption that terrorists consider most transportation avenues a possible target. the more people involved, the more "juicy" the target may seem. Landmarks, other areas where large numbers of people congregate etc. My reasoning is that if I can conceive of it, the average terrorist is or has considered it as well.

I'm not making that statement out of some fear based paranoia, just general knowledge and assumption. The risks to the average person is still extremely low with regards to many of these things.

What really suprised me was that some people considered the use of passenger airliners as weapons a huge suprise a few years ago.