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Security heightened at U.S. airports

  • Story Highlights
  • Officials say no specific threat to U.S. indicated; measure is precautionary
  • Response to burning car ramming into Glasgow airport ; London car bombs
  • White House spokesman says President Bush has been briefed
  • New York police commissioner says maintaining "additional safeguards"
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is boosting security at airports across the country in light of the terrorism scares in Britain in the past two days, officials said.

The heightened security is a precautionary measure, officials said. No indication of any threat has been received.

On Saturday, a car was driven into the front of a terminal at Glasgow International Airport in Scotland. Eyewitnesses said the car became a fireball. Police said two people were arrested.

A day earlier, police in London found two parked cars packed with fuel, gas canisters and nails. The discoveries of the cars in central London unnerved the British capital, with officials saying that hundreds of people could have been killed if the devices in the cars had been set off.

President Bush was briefed on the situation, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Saturday. He said no information suggests there is a "credible threat" to the United States, but the White House has boosted security at U.S. airports as a precaution.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said authorities "are paying close attention to events in Scotland and London both."

"We are maintaining the additional safeguards that were put in place yesterday as an ongoing precaution against attacks here. We are also working closely with the Port Authority in matters related to airport security," Kelly said.

Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said it had no plans to change the U.S. terrorism threat level in reaction to the London incident.

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In a written statement, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, "I have seen no specific, credible information suggesting that this incident is connected to a threat to the homeland."

Chertoff mentioned the upcoming Independence Day holiday but asked the public, "as always, that they be vigilant and report any suspicious activities to authorities." E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.

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