英语六级阅读 Security tightened up ahead of Obama inauguration in Washington D.C.
2009-01-17来源:和谐英语
Though no credible threat to any inaugural event or to President-elect Barack Obama has been detected, U.S. authorities are tightening up security in the capital city ahead of the Jan. 20 Obama inauguration.
Authorities have assigned more than 20,000 police officers, National Guard troops and plainclothes agents from more than 50 agencies to keep inauguration events safe, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The security measures, enhanced by a White House announcement of emergency financing for public safety, are by far the most extensive and stringent for the swearing-in of a president.www.hxen.net
It’s also a task vastly complicated by a crowd that is expected to reach two million to four million people, who will face successive rings of security, each more restrictive than the last before they get near inaugural events.
The security is especially tight in part because the event is the inauguration of the first African-American president.
The 240,000 people with tickets to the swearing-in and the thousands of additional people with tickets to watch the parade are only a fraction of the numbers expected to walk or take buses or subways to the National Mall.
Most of those without tickets will watch on 20 Jumbotrons placed on the Mall.
The security plan covers not just the events on Jan. 20, but also the welcome concert for Obama on Jan. 18 at the Lincoln Memorial, which is expected to draw as many as half a million people, and nearly 100 official balls, concerts and receptions that will not end until the early morning hours of Jan. 21.
Aside from staging a large police presence, authorities will also deploy 155 teams of plainclothes agents throughout the region including at Metro subway stations in the outer suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.
Based on the knowledge that the London subway bombers in 2005 used outlying feeder stations as staging points, the agents will move through the crowds on foot looking for suspicious behavior.
Teams of intelligence analysts, evidence response technicians, bomb experts, cyber security specialists, hostage negotiators, emergency medical personnel and SWAT units will also be nearby and out of sight in off-site locations unless they are needed.
Public and private buildings will be closed to normal business near where Obama will be sworn in and along the parade route up Pennsylvania Avenue.
With roads and five major bridges leading into the city closed for the inauguration, and vehicular traffic excluded from large parts of downtown, transit officials have warned riders of "crush conditions" and long waits for buses and subways.
Fighter jets will provide air cover and Coast Guard boats equipped with automatic weapons will patrol the Potomac River.
Chemical, biological and radiological detectors, installed after the 9/11 terror attacks, are already in place.
Businesses and hoteliers have been briefed to be watchful during the inaugural events, in part because the authorities want to increase security awareness after the Mumbai attackers last November singled out soft targets like hotels that were lightly secured.
So far, analysis of intelligence has not yielded evidence of an overseas or domestic threat, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Authorities have assigned more than 20,000 police officers, National Guard troops and plainclothes agents from more than 50 agencies to keep inauguration events safe, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The security measures, enhanced by a White House announcement of emergency financing for public safety, are by far the most extensive and stringent for the swearing-in of a president.www.hxen.net
It’s also a task vastly complicated by a crowd that is expected to reach two million to four million people, who will face successive rings of security, each more restrictive than the last before they get near inaugural events.
The security is especially tight in part because the event is the inauguration of the first African-American president.
The 240,000 people with tickets to the swearing-in and the thousands of additional people with tickets to watch the parade are only a fraction of the numbers expected to walk or take buses or subways to the National Mall.
Most of those without tickets will watch on 20 Jumbotrons placed on the Mall.
The security plan covers not just the events on Jan. 20, but also the welcome concert for Obama on Jan. 18 at the Lincoln Memorial, which is expected to draw as many as half a million people, and nearly 100 official balls, concerts and receptions that will not end until the early morning hours of Jan. 21.
Aside from staging a large police presence, authorities will also deploy 155 teams of plainclothes agents throughout the region including at Metro subway stations in the outer suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.
Based on the knowledge that the London subway bombers in 2005 used outlying feeder stations as staging points, the agents will move through the crowds on foot looking for suspicious behavior.
Teams of intelligence analysts, evidence response technicians, bomb experts, cyber security specialists, hostage negotiators, emergency medical personnel and SWAT units will also be nearby and out of sight in off-site locations unless they are needed.
Public and private buildings will be closed to normal business near where Obama will be sworn in and along the parade route up Pennsylvania Avenue.
With roads and five major bridges leading into the city closed for the inauguration, and vehicular traffic excluded from large parts of downtown, transit officials have warned riders of "crush conditions" and long waits for buses and subways.
Fighter jets will provide air cover and Coast Guard boats equipped with automatic weapons will patrol the Potomac River.
Chemical, biological and radiological detectors, installed after the 9/11 terror attacks, are already in place.
Businesses and hoteliers have been briefed to be watchful during the inaugural events, in part because the authorities want to increase security awareness after the Mumbai attackers last November singled out soft targets like hotels that were lightly secured.
So far, analysis of intelligence has not yielded evidence of an overseas or domestic threat, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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