Security Measures Keeps Visitors from Statue of Liberty
By Noel Pangilinan

he Lady is off-limits.

Prominently displayed at the entrance of Castle Clinton in Battery Park in lower Manhattan, where visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island museum buy their ferry tickets, is a sign that reads: "Only the grounds is open to the public."

"It's disappointing," said Francis Buss, 37, who made the four-hour drive from Washington, D.C. with his family to see the monument in early May 2003. "Just walking on the grounds is boring."

Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the interior of the Statue of Liberty has been off-limits to the public. And there seems to be no sign that this will change soon.

"When will the Statue of Liberty reopen? We do not know," said Brian Feeney, public affairs officer of the National Park Service, which manages the statue. "We have no reopening date yet."

The decision lies with the Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, said Feeney. But so far, the Park Service has yet to receive word from the Department of Interior, diminishing the hope that the monument's interior would reopen in time for summer, a peak season for tourism.

efore Sept. 11, visitors to the Statue of Liberty could climb all the way up to the 22-story-high crown of the Statue, walk around all four sides of the Statue's pedestal and visit the museum inside the pedestal, where the Statue's history of architectural development, construction and restoration were on display.

But the events of Sept. 11 forced the park service to close Liberty Island due to security concerns. Although access to the 58-acre island was reopened 100 days later on December 20, the interior of the monument remained off-limits to visitors.

In 2000, around five million people visited Ellis Island. In 2002, this was down to three million. Feeney, however, was quick to point out that the figures may not really paint an accurate picture.

"2000 was the busiest year for us," he said, adding that in the 1990s, Liberty Island usually had three to four million visitors a year. This year, the visitor figure is on track to hit three million.

With the 152-foot Statue of Liberty still considered a potential terrorist target, tight security remains in effect in and around the island. Since its reopening in December 2001, passengers have to pass through airport-level security before they can board the ferry. All bags and anything with metal, such as belts, mobile phones and coins, have to be subjected to an X-ray machine inside a makeshift security check-in center.

Since March 2003, tourists have seen Coast Guard boats patrolling of New York Harbor. Operation Liberty Shield, which aims to protect the city from any attack from the sea, has altered the Coast Guard's mission from primarily search and rescue to homeland security.

Under Liberty Shield, the Coast Guard enforces 100-yard security zones around the Statue of Liberty and other potential terrorist targets.

Liberty Shield empowers the Coast Guard to approach, board and even use force to stop vessels loitering within 100 yards of a military vessel, bridge embankments and security-risk sites such as Liberty Island and the United Nations. It also requires the Coast Guard to escort cruise ships and ferries into the harbor.

PHOTO: Noel Pangilinan

Since Sept. 11, 2001, security in and around the Statue of Liberty has been tightened.

On Memorial Day Weekend in 2002, the National Park Service set up a face recognition surveillance system as an added security measure. Two cameras were installed at the dock in Battery Park, focused on the line of visitors waiting to board the ferries.

The pictures were then checked with a photographic database of terror suspects compiled by the federal government. But the system, manufactured by Jersey City-based Visionics Corporation, was discontinued right after that holiday weekend.

"It was just a test. The manufacturer offered it on a trial basis. There was no plan to make it a permanent measure." Feeney said. "Security in Liberty Island has always been the tightest among national monuments and parks."

espite the continued tight security, there are still enough tourists who think that just a visit around the Statue of Liberty is worth the trip.

Jeremy Sussman, 34, and his wife Rebecca, 33, from Westchester County, New York, said it did not matter since they have been inside the statue before. They said they just wanted their four-year-old son, Sammy, who loves the Statue of Liberty, to have a close-up view of the green goddess. <Click here for a video tour of Ellis and Liberty islands>

For the trip, they also brought along their two-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, who spent most of the ferry ride to the island in a baby carriage. "Besides, there's no way for us to climb up the statue," Rebecca said, pointing to the baby stroller.

Butch Lacson, 48, an Filipino army colonel, came to the city with his wife and two sons. He said it would have been a lot better if they can get inside the statue. "But since we're here in New York, we decided we still want to go," he said. "A trip to New York is not complete without a visit to the Statue of Liberty."

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