While New York state and New York City have beefed up security at strategic locations in the wake of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran on Friday, that’s not been the case in the 50th state.
State and city officials here said Friday that they are monitoring the situation between the two countries following the killing of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, but that there are no immediate plans by any local agencies to heighten security or raise the terror threat alert level in either Oahu or the rest of Hawaii.
At the city level, Emergency Management Director Hiro Toiya urged the public to remain vigilant and to call 911 to report any suspicious activity. “If you see something, say something,” he said.
“While there is no evidence of specific or credible threats to Hawaii at this time, we are staying in close communication and coordination with our state and federal partners as we do every day,” Toiya said.
The Honolulu Police Department, which was copied on the email from Toiya to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, did not provide a specific response.
Maj. Jeff Hickman, spokesman for the state Department of Defense, echoed Toiya’s comments.
“The Hawaii National Guard has not been tasked with supporting any new missions in regard to the attack in Iraq,” Hickman said.
Cindy McMillan, a spokeswoman for Gov. David Ige, said the National Terrorism Advisory System level has not increased. Hawaii DOD, however, “is continuing to work with our federal partners and will be ready to act if circumstances warrant a change of status.”
Lt. Col. Jennifer Spahn, public affairs officer for Indo-PACOM based in Hawaii, referred questions to the federal Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, based at the Pentagon, said it’s usually up to the discretion of states and municipalities to determine the terror threat alert level in their respective jurisdictions and that there has been no directive from federal DOD instructing otherwise.
“We have not issued a recommendation to increase threat levels,” Gleason said.
Officials stepped up security at New York’s airports, utilities, transit system and high-profile spots Friday, calling for extra vigilance for potential repercussions from the U.S. killing of Iran’s top general.
New York state and city leaders said there were no direct, credible threats. But Mayor Bill de Blasio said the deadly airstrike could create “new and very profound challenges” even in a city long on guard against terror threats.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent National Guard personnel to city airports and said the New York Power Authority was checking and patrolling utilities. The agency that runs city subways, buses and commuter rails was also enhancing security, Cuomo said.
“Recent international events are understandably causing some anxiety,” said Cuomo, a Democrat.
City police were sharpening their watch over some prominent locations. Police counterterrorism chief John Miller declined to specify which ones.
Such steps and calls to keep an eye out for suspicious activity after international tensions or terror threats have become familiar features of living in New York since Sept. 11, 2001.
But “we are now potentially facing a threat that’s different and greater than anything we have faced previously,” de Blasio said. The Democrat said he believed the U.S. was now in a “de facto state of war with Iran.”
President Donald Trump, a Republican, told reporters in Florida that Soleimani was killed “to stop a war.”
“We did not take action to start a war,” he said.
Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for Soleimani’s death Friday near the airport in Baghdad, Iraq.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.