The September 11th attack
U.S. firms beef up security overseas

Bloomberg News

TOKYO — Visitors to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo face a barrage of questions before being allowed inside to pick up passports. More than two dozen Japanese police stand guard outside — triple the usual number.

Motorists in Seoul, home to Asia's largest U.S. military presence outside Japan, took four hours to traverse a half-mile section of the city because of a line of cars waiting to be searched as they entered or exited the main U.S. base.

In Beijing, Ford Motor Co. banned non-essential employee travel. Ford and General Motors Corp. were among companies that received bomb threats at the Frankfurt auto show, said Ford's Beijing-based spokesman Kenneth Hsu.

Across Asia, U.S. companies, schools and military bases are boosting security after the worst terrorist attacks in the U.S. The snarled traffic and other inconveniences that result are inevitable consequences, many say, of a world suddenly grown more dangerous.

"Life goes on for us," said Cameron Fox, a vice-principal at the American International School in Hong Kong. "After the incident, obviously everyone is much, much more aware of the importance of security."

Macau link denied

U.S. embassies in the region said there haven't been specific threats made against their citizens. In Macau, a former Portuguese enclave near Hong Kong, officials denied any link between the arrest last night of five Pakistanis and the attack. The men were arrested for overstaying their visas and are suspected pickpockets, they said.

"Hong Kong hasn't been a target of terrorist attacks," Chief Secretary Donald Tsang told government radio. "I'm confident the security bureau and the police have appropriate and sufficient measures."

At the same time, though, the consulate in Hong Kong closed for the day today "to assess the current security posture." In an e-mail to U.S. citizens, it urged Americans to be on their guard. It called the World Trade Center attack "a cruel reminder of the continuing threat from terrorists and extremist groups to Americans and American interests worldwide."

Banks from Tokyo to Singapore said they are taking steps to restrict access to their headquarters. Deutsche Bank AG is putting a security guard on every floor of its offices in Tokyo, said Brent Webster, the German bank's chief operating officer for Japan. "We want our employees to feel safe," he said.

The Indian unit of American Express Co., whose headquarters were damaged by the attack, added more security guards and installed metal detectors outside its offices nationwide. PepsiCo Inc.'s Indian unit, by contrast, didn't make any changed because "it's an all-Indian team," said spokesman Deepak Jolly. "We don't have a foreign face."

For many U.S. citizens in Asia, the threat now seems closer to home.

'Sad fact'

U.S. companies in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, are asking that vehicles be parked further from their facilities, said Daniel Turner, marketing director at PT Chubbs Lips Indonesia, a security company. They are also seeking stepped-up surveillance of arriving parcels, he said.

At Hill & Associates, a security company whose clients are mostly U.S. companies, executives kept the Hong Kong head office manned around-the-clock until Thursday, said Ian Gilchrist, a former Hong Kong police officer who is now the company's regional director.

"The thing with security is that it's all considered just an add-on — it's cost," Gilchrist said. "It's a sad fact about human psychology: people usually think about these things after the event."

At the new Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main overseas gateway, arriving passengers are greeted by an armored car parked outside. In Beijing, Northwest Airlines asked passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before departure instead of two to comply with new security procedures.

In Vietnam, postal authorities say they are refusing to accept all mail to the U.S. at the request of their American counterparts and applicants for U.S. visas say progress has been slowed by the attacks. The U.S. embassy told Nguyen Loc Ha, 33, whose sister lives near San Francisco, that stays of more than a month won't be granted until further notice.

"I understand that they need to fix any danger," said Ha, a translator. "But it's a real problem for my family."