America on Alert

Feeling both my anarchal and police reporter roots today, I wandered deep into the secured area around the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund here in D.C. this weekend.
After years of disruptive protests and near riots, the World Bank/IMF weekend has become a big to-do here in D.C. It had become a running joke at the nearby GW campus that students could count on a day or two off each fall when the bankers and the protesters came to town.
This year, the situation was escalated even further because the World Bank and IMF are still technically at Orange Alert following the Bush administration’s raising of the terror alert level based on three-year-old intelligence. Security officials closed several square blocks between Farragut West and Foggy Bottom this weekend, throughout the weekend, I’ve been passed by police motorcades escorting tour buses of delegates and bankers around the city. The city’s big hotels, where the delegates are staying, have full complements of D.C.’s finest around them as well.
Walking down to the World Bank this afternoon, the preparations are indeed impressive. Blocks of jersey barriers with portable lowerable vehicle barriers keep unwanted vehicles away