The cost of security

Terror Alert | With threat level orange, big-city commuters may see red | Mindy Belz

Washington commuters are used to traffic snarls. But drive time from Virginia to Capitol Hill doubled last week as government employees and other workers face what could be long-term anti-terror measures. New police checkpoints went up throughout the capital—as well as in major cities from New York to San Francisco—after the Bush administration elevated the terror threat level from yellow to orange nationwide early this month.

Worry about attacks from al-Qaeda reignited after the CIA discovered detailed plans to target major U.S. financial institutions, including D.C. headquarters for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The reconnaissance lay buried in the hard drive of a recently arrested al-Qaeda computer engineer, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan (also known as Abu Talha).