From the S&S archives: Reagan cancels cruise plans

BONN (S&S) — President Reagan's security personnel have talked him into cancelling a planned Rhine River cruise Thursday night because of the security risks involved, German government sources here said Wednesday.

The cruise was scheduled to get under way at 8:30 p.m. Thursday with passengers who included heads of state from several of the 16 NATO nations represented here and their spouses.

Reagan's decision to change his plans reflect the extreme security precautions being taken by German officials in an effort to prevent a terrorist attack or an assassination attempt.

The cancellation comes in spite of security preparations for the Rhine cruise that included a search of the river bottom along the route the cruise boat would have travelled.

All hotels and residences occupied by top NATO officials have been declared security zones by the police, a spokesman for the Federal Press Office said. This includes all rooms used for meetings and press conferences in various hotels in and near the capital. Several NATO dignitaries are staying in the Kurhotel in Bad Neuenahr and the Steigenberger here.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre-Elliot Trudeau is staying at the guest house of German Prime Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Bonn police spokesman Helmut Engelke said all German government employees have been issued special passes for the duration of the NATO summit. He said security officials have searched every square inch of the German Chancellery and other areas where Reagan and other dignitaries are scheduled to meet or give press conferences. The local police force of 1,500 has swelled to a reported 17,000 with reinforcements called in from the German states of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Rheinland-Pfalz and Hamburg.

"We can't exclude the fact that something might happen," said a spokesman for the federal criminal bureau. "But any attack aimed at a summit conferee would have to be a kamikaze attack to be successful."

On Tuesday, an unattended suitcase found across the street from the Turkish Embassy prompted police to seal off the area and call in a bomb specialist from Duesseldorf.

The suspected bomb turned out to be nothing more than a saleswoman's sample case left unattended. The incident, however, pointed up the anxiousness of the massive security force here.

In another security development, nine West German subsidiaries of American-owned companies received fire bomb letters Tuesday, a day prior to Reagan's arrival in Bonn, a federal criminal office spokesman said.

According to the Associated Press, a federal spokesman said the letters, delivered by regular mail in the cities of Bochum, Duesseldorf, Essen and Muenster, were discovered in time and did no damage.

The spokesman declined, however, to identify the companies concerned in the attempt.

The spokesman also that the letters contained a note reading, "There will be no innocent persons in the next war. Stop this madness. We wish the U.S. president and his friends a fiery welcome."

The letters contained a highly inflammable substance and homemade detonators which failed to go off, the spokesman said.