Experts: Hard to stop NY's bicycle bomber

Mar. 7--How do you stop a guy on a bicycle who sets off a bomb in the middle of the night at the "crossroads of the world?" You just might not be able to, at least not in a free society, according to security experts.

The bicycle bomber has everything going for him -- he strikes when most of the city is asleep, he gets around on something that's easy to maneuver, and he appears to be in no rush to become famous, as he has yet to proclaim responsibility for any of three explosions that police said may be connected to him.

Before dawn yesterday, a small bomb caused minor damage to the military recruiting station at Times Square, and police were searching for the hooded bicyclist seen on a surveillance video pedaling away.

"There is only so much we can do, unless we want to turn America into a police state," says PJ Crowley, director of Homeland Security at the Center for American Progress, a think thank. "There's a limit to what you can do, but you can learn from what does happen."

The bomb used in the Times Square attack, police said, was similar to those used in blasts at the British consulate in 2005 and the Mexican consulate in 2007. Each of the three bombings involved homemade explosives and occurred at the same time of day. A man riding a bike is a suspect in all three attacks.

The NYPD altered its approach to thwarting domestic terrorism when the British consulate was hit, according to police sources.