LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gray Davis said he erred on the side of caution by publicly announcing a potential threat to four major bridges used by thousands of California commuters even though some irritated federal officials characterized the information as largely uncorroborated.
Davis used a relatively routine news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday to reveal that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies had found credible evidence that terrorists planned to attack a bridge in the Golden State during rush hour sometime between Friday and next Wednesday.
Officials with the FBI and Justice Department hurriedly downplayed the significance of the information that had been originally sent out only as a confidential advisory to law enforcement agencies, and were cool to Davis' actions.
"Obviously, Gov. Davis thought that one thing that he could do to enhance the security of people using those bridges was to make a public announcement," Tom Ridge, the head of the federal Office of Homeland Security, told reporters Friday in Washington. "We did not encourage him to do so."
Although other Western governors and various California city officials chose not to release the information to the public, Davis said the buck stopped with him in terms of safeguarding the lives of commuters and the bridges themselves.
"If I didn't make that statement, and God forbid, something happened, I'd be kicking myself," Davis said on "Larry King Live" on Thursday night. "I have an obligation to share with the people of this state information that may well be credible that affects their lives. More importantly, I want them to know that we have gone the extra mile to protect them."
Security had been tightened immediately after Sept. 11 around the bridges and remained so on Friday. Traffic volumes were described as fairly normal on the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the Coronado Bay Bridge in San Diego, and the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles. Security was also on high alert around bridges in Washington state and other Western states as well.
Davis told King that he had discussed the FBI warning with his staff and decided that the information was solid enough to warrant alerting motorists who use the bridges. He conceded that the warning could easily be a false alarm, but he did not want to take any chances.
"You get this information every day and you don't know if it is disinformation just to make you scurry about and take a lot of precautions that turn out not to be necessary, but you have to err on the side of caution," said Davis. "You have to do everything you can to protect people, and then if the threat turns out to be false, fine."
Davis has locked horns with the Bush administration before by refusing to go along with the White House's strategy of allowing market forces to cool off the runaway electricity market in his state a year ago. David had demanded federal price controls, which the White House does not support.
