L.A. REMAINS ON TERROR WATCH BIOLOGICAL-ATTACK DETECTORS IN USE.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Law enforcement agencies and Los Angeles International Airport remain on heightened readiness against terrorism through the holiday season, while federal officials said Friday that they have enhanced their ability to monitor the air for biological warfare agents in 30 U.S. cities.

The biological warfare agent detectors are one of several ways the Department of Homeland Security is preparing for possible terrorist strikes during the Code Orange terrorism alert over the holidays.

Los Angeles County fire Capt. Ed Broomfield, who heads the county's Office of Emergency Management, said officials have been working on developing the biological warfare agent detectors at sites in the county.

``We are purchasing a lot of equipment,'' Broomfield said. ``If it hasn't been purchased yet, it's in the process.''

The Homeland Security Department previously modified air pollution monitoring equipment in the 30 cities to pick up any harmful biological agents and provide test results in 12 to 24 hours, The Associated Press reported.

After the national threat alert was raised to the orange level Sunday, officials took several dozen additional monitors and installed them in the same cities. For security reasons the locations were not identified.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Don Cox said officers have been on modified tactical alert since the heightened alert was announced Sunday. This allows officials to hold officers over during shift changes to increase the number of personnel in the event of terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, Air France flights between Paris and LAX were back on the airport's flight schedule Friday after being stopped by authorities for the past two days because of terrorism concerns.

Security remained tight at LAX and other airports nationwide.

``We're still on orange alert, so we still have the same enhanced measures that we've had since we've gone to orange,'' said Gaby Pacheco of Los Angeles World Airports.

U.S. investigators want to speak with a small number of people in Paris who failed to show up for boarding flights to Los Angeles that fell under close scrutiny in a possible terrorist plot, including one pilot-trainee.

U.S. officials said investigators hope to resolve concerns that some passengers aboard those flights might have intended to use them to launch terror attacks against the United States.

Discussions between U.S. and French officials led to the cancellation of six Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday. U.S. officials also were talking to counterparts in other countries.

``We're clearly in a time when the terrorist threat is very real, the efforts that al-Qaida makes to plot and plan to attack us is constant and continuous,'' said Rep. Jim Turner, senior Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. ``It is not anything that we can take lightly.''

After the Air France cancellations, French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said.

Meanwhile, U.S. counterterrorism officials were turning to possible threats next week that might target large public gatherings, such as New Year's Eve celebrations, the Rose Bowl and the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena.

One U.S. official said there was no specific information such an attack was likely but said such gatherings would obviously be an attractive target for terrorists hoping to inflict large-scale casualties.