SPECIAL PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
SPECIAL PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970114
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, the Secretary-General's Acting Spokesman, began yesterday afternoon his special briefing on the bomb incident that occurred at the Secretariat building earlier in the day by introducing the Chief of the United Nations Security and Safety Service, Michael McCann.
The Acting Spokesman also told correspondents, in response to questions they had raised at his earlier briefing, that yesterday's incident was not the first in which a live bomb had been delivered to the United Nations Headquarters. Based on the living memory of some security officials, live bombs had been delivered to the Organization on a number of occasions in the past.
Regarding the question as to the number of letters that flowed into the Secretariat daily, he said that they ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 pieces of mail. The number had jumped in the last week to about 40,000 daily because of a variety of petitions that had generated a lot of postcards.
As to how many minutes before its delivery to a journalist's office the explosive letter was discovered, Mr. Eckhard said: "The answer is 15 or 20 minutes."
Asked about the bomb's country origin, he said he could not answer that question because of the investigations that would be undertaken by the New York City and United States authorities. The United Nations was not allowed to tell reporters about the specifics of the device other than to say that it had been an envelope addressed to Al-Hayat, a London-based Middle East newspaper, with a full time correspondent at the United Nations. The correspondent's name had not been written on the letter.
In response to a request for him to retrace the letter-bomb-related developments in London and New York, the Acting Spokesman said the explosion in the London office of Al-Hayat, with its resultant injury to two people, had led the United Nations security service to increase its surveillance of incoming mail, especially those for the press floors: the third and the fourth floors. The first five floors of the building were serviced by a secondary mail delivery station based on the second floor.
Continuing, he said a security officer and a captain, monitoring the mail, came across a letter addressed to Al-Hayat which matched the description that the security service had received regarding letter-bombs that had been discovered elsewhere. Since the United Nations did not have its own bomb squad and relied on the host country for primary security, it informed New York City police which had formed, along with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a Joint Terrorist Task Force. A few minutes after the bomb was discovered about 11:05 a.m., the Force arrived at about 11:15 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. with sophisticated equipment to detect the letter's content, and confirmed that the letter was an explosive device. The Force secured the letter, took it down to the building's basement and "rendered it safe". The bomb was taken off the United Nations premises for further investigations.
Asked what exactly the United Nations would do to improve security at the building, Mr. McCann, Chief of United Nations Security, said the service would look at all of its procedures to see what could be enhanced and what could be left unchanged.
How was the device "rendered safe", the security officer was asked. He said he would defer such a question to the security experts of the host Government who had the technical ability to answer it.
Pressed to give a description of what the letter bomb looked like, Mr. Eckhard, the Secretary-General's Acting Spokesman, said the package had been described as "a greeting card-sized envelope, a little thicker than you might expect for a greeting card". "And, we've been asked not to give you any further details than that", he added.
In response to requests for further details on how the bomb might have been defused, Mr. Eckhard, reiterating that he could not go into details, asked the reporters to refer their requests for details to the New York City police. For his part, he repeated what the bomb disposal experts had told him: "They said they rendered it safe: either they exploded it, or disarmed it by whatever methods they used in this building before taking the debris, or whatever it was, out."
Should the United Nations have the type of equipment at the disposal of the New York City police and the FBI, since it was a terrorist target, the officials were asked. Responding, Mr. McCann reiterated that the United Nations relied on the host Government to augment the procedures instituted at Headquarters. The bomb incident was one of those in which the United Nations relied on the host authorities to make available their bomb squads and their technical experts to the Organization.
Asked whether the enhanced security measures had been initiated by the security services or whether they had been triggered in response to the information received from Al-Hayat's correspondent, who had said that she might be a potential victim, Mr. Eckhard said the measures could be attributed to both scenarios. The correspondent's information that she could be at risk was one of the reasons why security measures were stepped up.
Replying to a question as to the accuracy of reports that a second letter bomb had been spotted in the building, the Acting Spokesman said another suspicious piece of mail had been found. But, New York City police had analysed and found that it was not a bomb.
In response to a question as to whether United Nations security officers had taken extra measures to check mail meant for the newspaper, following the dispatch of letter bombs to Al-Hayat's offices in Washington, D.C., Mr. Eckhard said they had and had found no explosive devices until today.
Was mail routinely x-rayed at the United Nations, a correspondent asked. In response, Mr. Eckhard said they were. First of all, the mail was processed by the United States Postal Service and, when they were delivered to the United Nations, they went through several procedures, among which was the use of an x-ray device.
When a reporter said that it seemed as though the particular letter bomb had not gone through the x-ray device, Mr. Eckhard said that, while it sounded as though the letter had not been spotted by the device, he could not say whether that was the fault of the x-ray machine or the result of the sophistication of the letter bomb.
Asked what drew the attention of the security officer who discovered the bomb to the envelop that encased it, Mr. Eckhard said that the officers had been looking for packages to Al-Hayat because of the bomb incident in London on Monday morning.
"What was it about the package that attracted attention, was it ticking", the reporter followed-up. Mr. Eckhard responded: "It was addressed to Al-Hayat." It also resembled other bombs that had been discovered in the past, "the markings, the origin etc.".
In response to a question as to whether he was saying that all mail was x-rayed, contrary to his earlier statement that they were spot-checked, the Acting Spokesman said that the mail received from the United States Postal Service was x-rayed before it reached the loading dock in the basement of the building.
Responding to a request for further descriptions of the bomb-carrying letter so as to alert correspondents as to what to look out for, Mr. McCann, Chief of Security, said the bomb had been contained in an envelope, about five-and-one-half by another six-and-one-half inches, like a greeting card and addressed to Al-Hayat without a return address. Noting those characteristics, the security officer who discovered the bomb determined that the letter needed further scrutiny.
Asked whether the United Nations knew of any other news organization that was similarly threatened, Mr. McCann answered in the negative.
Requested to comment on reports that the letter had been sent from Alexandria, Egypt, Mr. Eckhard declined to do so.
Replying to a question as to whether there were bomb-detecting and disposal equipment he would like to acquire if he had "a rather unlimited bank account", Mr. McCann said: "There is always something you would like. But we will look at procedures we have in place and see what we should improve and what is adequate".
In response to a question as to how long the bomb package had been in the building, Mr. Eckhard said that the letter had arrived on Friday evening from the postal service. He said he assumed the letter had gone through the x-ray process and would have passed onwards to the secondary distribution centres on the next working day, which happened to be today.
Pressed whether the fact that the letter might have spent the entire weekend in the building said something about the state of United Nations security, Mr. Eckhard said it was normal for mail that reached the United Nations on Friday to be processed on Monday. The particular device in question seemed to explode when it was opened. "So, as long as it sits there inertly and is not being handled, there is no risk."
Speaking further about security measures, in addition to the x-ray machines, that were used to screen mail, the Acting Spokesman said some more surveillance was carried out, leading to the detection of the bomb. "We understand that the airports of this country are about to install million-dollar surveillance devices", he said, adding "maybe someday, we will be able to afford something like that as well."
Clarifying his comment as to how the United States Postal Service handled the mail, Mr. Eckhard said that it processed mail -- the details of which he did not know -- and sent it to the United Nations, which x-rayed it before it reached the loading docks.
Asked whether any of the building's operations or the visit of some dignitaries had been disrupted by the bomb incident, he said the elevators had been shut down and assigned for security purposes. The Secretary-General's noon meeting with an ambassador was postponed because the delegate, who was coming from outside the building, could not get to the thirty-eighth floor.
In response to a question as to whether United Nations security would have been stepped up if the Al-Hayat journalist had not alerted the security services about the London bomb, Mr. McCann said that security services had increased the level of procedures since last week and had taken further measures on the basis of its conversations today with the Al Hayat reporter.
Asked whether the bomb had been powerful enough to kill its intended victims, Mr. Eckhard reiterated that the police had asked him not to divulge such details. He also said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been informed of the incident. "Would you recommend the Congress of the host country to update equipment at the United Nations", the Acting Spokesman was asked. In response, he said: "That is not their responsibility. United Nations security is for the Secretary-General to decide on and to allocate resources available to him accordingly." He stressed that the Chief of United Nations Security would reassess what should be enhanced, based on today's incident. Asked whether there had been incidents in which bombs had slipped through the x-ray devices, Mr. Eckhard said there had been cases in which live bombs were brought into or attached to the side of the building. All them were detected before they exploded. How secure was the United Nations building in the light of the recent budget cutbacks and terrorist threats, the Chief of Security was asked. He replied that he was confident that the proper level of security could be provided at Headquarters, based on the resources, equipment and high-calibre personnel he had. To that, Mr. Eckhard added: "No institution is immune from this kind of threat". Replying to a question as to when the letter was x-rayed, Mr. McCann said he would check and confirm whether the letter was delivered on Friday or Saturday and at what point it was screened. In response to a question as to which organizations had responded to the request for bomb disposal equipment, Mr. McCann said that a number of people had responded, including the bomb squad, the Joint Terrorist Task Force and uniformed and plain-clothes security officers. Asked whether the United Nations was expecting more letter bombs since the other Al Hayat offices had received between four and five of them, Mr. McCann said that all the mail that had arrived was being checked again. He recommended that correspondents report any suspicious packages they received to the United Nations Security and Safety Service. Replying to a question as to the composition of the Joint Terrorist Task Force and whether it included the FBI, Mr. McCann said the United Nations usually contacted the United States Mission and the security people from the host country followed. The Joint Terrorist Task Force included the host Government's national security outfits, the FBI and local security officers, including the New York police. Responding to a question as to whether mail was screened in the second floor after it had been sent up from the screening room in the basement, Mr. Eckhard said there was secondary screening for some mail. In addition to the x-rays, there were spot checks that caught today's letter bomb. The details of other security processes would not be revealed.
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