Federal and local authorities have stepped up security precautions following the Friday bombing of two U.S.-owned hotels in Jakarta, NEWSWEEK has learned. But U.S. officials say that the warnings are precautionary and that there is no information about an imminent threat of attack inside the United States in connection with the Indonesian incidents.
The Department of Homeland Security has sent out what officials described as an "intelligence watch and warning" advisory, labeled "for official use only," suggesting that state, local, and federal authorities increase vigilance in light of the Jakarta attacks. A counterterrorism official, who asked for anonymity when discussing security precautions, said that the department routinely sends out such bulletins following high-profile attacks overseas. Two counterterrorism officials said that U.S. agencies were unaware of any threat of attack inside the U.S. that might be related to the Jakarta events.
In New York City, meanwhile, the New York Police Department stepped up the visible police presence at major hotels in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. "There's no information of a similar threat to New York, but it's our standard practice now to take such precautions and to brief security directors in New York of what we learn," said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
An NYPD spokesman said that within 30 minutes of the Jakarta attack, scores of marked "critical response vehicles"—NYPD patrol cars and officers deployed by the department's Counterterrorism Bureau—were sent out to Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and dozens of other hotels in New York. Also, an NYPD lieutenant from the department's Intelligence Bureau, serving as an overseas liaison, arrived at the Jakarta Marriott within hours of the attack where he was briefed by Indonesian officials.
U.S. counterterrorism officials said that while it is too early to determine who carried out the bombings, the most logical suspects are the Jemaah Islamiyah, a radical Islamic group affiliated with Al Qaeda. Indonesian authorities had claimed they'd cracked down hard enough on the group to largely drive it out of business, and some U.S. experts think that the Jakarta attacks may represent an attempt by the group to demonstrate that it is still a force to be reckoned with.
In the past, the group had been linked to deadly bombings at nightclubs on the resort island of Bali as well as an earlier attack on one of the Jakarta hotels targeted in the latest attack, the Marriott. One U.S. official noted that attacks on hotels—even hotels with formidable security precautions, including the ones in Jakarta—have become a more common terrorist target over the last year, as demonstrated by the commando-style attacks in Mumbai last year and bombings of hotels frequented by Westerners in Pakistan.
One key point investigators are focusing on in the latest Jakarta attacks is whether they were carried out by suicide bombers. According to early reports, in order to circumvent tight security checks at the entrances to the hotels that were bombed, the terrorists checked into one of the hotels as guests, made their bombs, and then smuggled one of the bombs into the second hotel, detonating it shortly after the attacker entered the building. One U.S. official noted that if they were able to get the bombs past hotel security, the bombers would gain no particular advantage by blowing themselves up—they could just as easily plant the bombs and set them off with timers or remote-control detonators. However, early reports suggest that some of the bodies recovered from the hotels were so badly mutilated that investigators believe they may well be the remains of suicide bombers.