By Xinhua Writer Yang Qingchuan
PITTSBURGH, the United States, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Traffic slowed down in downtown Pittsburgh, Penn., Thursday morning as the city began fully unfolding a comprehensive security plan for the Group of 20 (G20) summit which will begin in the evening.
In the surroundings of the futuristic David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the venue of the meeting, concrete barriers were erected and several roads were closed.
National Guard members, policemen and other law enforcement personnel are patrolling on every corner of the downtown area that includes the convention center.
"I have to confess that the traffic restrictions will be sort of disturbing to us, but it's a great honor for us to host such a huge international event," Jacob Bacharach, who works at the Benedum Center theater several blocks from the convention center, told Xinhua.
With the security plan in place, the theater has to suspend operations for two days.
But Bacharach hopes that the G20 summit will boost the profile of Pittsburgh in the long term and bring in more audience to his theater.
Total security costs for the summit is estimated at 19 million U.S. dollars, among which the White House will commit 10 million dollars.
The state government of Pennsylvnia will provide 6.3 million dollars and the remaining will be paid by Pittsburgh city and the Allegheny county.
A communications center supported by over 50 federal, state, county and city law enforcement, intelligence, emergency and security agencies has been set up to coordinate security efforts during the summit.
The so-called "nerve center" will operate more 200 security surveillance cameras installed around the summit venue and will also analyze satellite monitoring images provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
The center will be on duty on a 7/24 basis through Friday.
U.S. authorities assembled a security force of nearly 5,000 people to safeguard the event, including 2,500 National Guard troops, 1,200 state troopers, 875 Pittsburgh city police and small groups of officers from other agencies.
National Guard troops, the largest security force of them, won't be armed during the summit but will be paired with law enforcement officers carrying guns, said Randall Marchi, a commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
Since the downtown area is located at the conjunction of three rivers, some 200 armed Coast Guard members will patrol the nearby waters during the summit.
A approximately 6.4-km stretch of waterway will be closed to all commercial and recreational traffic between 6 a.m. Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday.
Downtown hotels are all required to have "some pretty extreme measures in place" when they accommodate G20 leaders and their entourage.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his staff booked some 200 hotel rooms.
Pittsburgh Port Authority will send patrol teams with bomb-sniffing dogs to bus stops, light rail stations and other mass transit facilities.
At Pittsburgh International Airport, where the G20 delegations are arriving with chartered planes, authorities hired 35 additional screeners to help the 300 security officers who run checkpoints.
Security experts say security concerns for the summit mainly come from two fronts.
First is the potential terrorism threat.
The Department of Homeland Security warned Tuesday of "terrorist interest" in attacking sports stadiums, hotels and entertainment venues across the United States.
"We're not really addressing any particular threat, but of course we have eyes and ears on the ground, and we are definitely concerned about potential threats," said FBI spokesperson Jeffrey Killeen.
Secondly, a large number of anti-war and anti-globalisation protesters are gathering in downtown Pittsburgh, which also adds pressures to security efforts.
However, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss said the city has a "very complex and dynamic plan" in place to handle any emergency.
"We're not going to tolerate any illegal behavior," he added.
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