hoped to make an insurance-fraud fire look like the work of Iraqis. Yet even before the answers were in as to who had planted the bomb, a new question—whether a season of terrorism might begin in the U.S.—had been raised. In the wake of the explosion, bomb threats forced the evacuation of the Em- pire State Building and Newark airport. Both threats were false, but no one was ready to dismiss the likelihood of another assault. Around the country, airports and other public facilities stepped up securi- ty. The blast was a reminder of the vul- nerability of most American office build- ings, shopping malls, airports and railway stations. Even the U.S. govern- ment has let its guard down since the mid-1980s, when American installations were on constant alert and concrete bar- riers were set up around many govern- ment buildings in Washington. “International terrorism in the ’80s was fundamentally fueled by the cold war,” says Phillips, “and you can almost date the diminution of that terrorism with Gorbachev's ascension to power.” But the end of communism has helpéd ignite the TIME, MARC. Approved For Release 2003/01/17 : CIA-R 1 fires of nationalism in regions like the Bal- kans, emboldening other fanatical groups to sow the kind of trouble once created by Soviet and East bloc terrorists. As the only remaining superpower, the U.S. can find itself the target of resent- ments of players on all sides who are seek- ing American involvement or trying to fend it off. Massive cdr bombs have be- come familiar as political weapons in the Middie East and Europe. But it would rep- resent a quantum leap in terrorist capabil- ities--and brazenness—to assemble one in the U.S. Middle East terror networks, for one, have never shown themselves to be capable of that or interested in doing so, preferring to concentrate their attacks on Westerners in Europe, where they have found it easier to operate. Whoever the bomber was, he made an indelible statement. On top of the deaths and injuries, the bomb’s damage to the heart of New York City’s financial district will bring heavy costs. Repairs and resto- ration alone will cost the Port Authority as much as $100 million, according to one es- timate. But the disruption to business will be even worse, because the Port Authority 118, 1993 SSIaM GIAO will have to close the giant complex for at least several days for structural and safety work. The towers, which represent about 10% of all the office space in Manhattan’s financial district, are so large that they have two ZIP codes. Perhaps the most unsettling possibili- ty is that the hand behind the blast will never reveal itself and never be discovered by anyone else. Though two Libyan intelli- gence agents were indicted in the downing of Pan Am 103, they have never been brought to trial, and no nation or group ever came forward to take responsibility. Just blocks from the World Trade Center, the walls of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. are still scarred from the effects of a bomb that was hidden in a horse-drawn wagon on Sept. 16, 1920. When it exploded into a lunchtime crowd, 40 people died and 200 were injured. The mystery of the blast was never cleared up. The investiga- tors who have begun scratching through the rubble of the Trade Center are deter- mined that this flash of terror will not go unsolved. —Reported by Edward Barnes, Sophfronia Scott Gregory/New York and Michael Duffy, Jay Peterzell/Washington 35 P96-00789R00390026001 1-0