May 28, 2013 -- Updated 1856 GMT (0256 HKT)
Recent security changes at New York City's Ellis Island and Liberty
Island were under scrutiny as summer started and tourists looked forward
to the reopening of two of New York's historic landmarks. FULL STORY
May 28, 2013 -- Updated 0016 GMT (0816 HKT)
Since
9/11, visitors have been screened at a lower Manhattan security
checkpoint before boarding the daily ferries to the islands.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The National Parks Service wants to screen visitors after arrival at Liberty, Ellis islands
- Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Sen. Charles Schumer ask service to reverse course
- It's like screening "people at airports after they get on the plane," Schumer says
- Liberty Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, will reopen July 4 after Sandy repairs
Sen. Chuck Schumer and
New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly have asked the
National Park Service to re-evaluate a recent change in its security
procedures that will allow visitors to board ferries headed to the
islands and go through a security screening after they arrive.
"The NYPD and the
National Park Service have differences when it comes to ideas on how to
protect visitors from a terrorist attack," Kelly told reporters Monday.
"Al Qaeda and its surrogates, those who share its jihadist goals, have
continually called for attacks against America, in America."
Kelly wrote a letter to
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell asking her to revisit the decision and
alerted Schumer to the potential security risks.
"It's sort of ridiculous.
It's sort of saying we are going to screen people at airports after
they get on the plane," Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "They've
made a serious mistake here, and we are asking them to rethink it, to
change it and simply go back to the old procedure."
A park service representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since 9/11, visitors have
been screened at a lower Manhattan security checkpoint before boarding
the daily ferries to the islands. Liberty Island, home to the Statue of
Liberty, and Ellis Island, home to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum,
sustained extensive damage in Superstorm Sandy and have been closed
since the storm hit in October.
Liberty Island is
scheduled to reopen to the public on July 4, but Ellis Island will
remain closed as it undergoes extensive repairs.
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