BOSTON (AP) – With thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and the national terror threat scale just reduced from its second-highest level, security will be even tighter for the Boston Marathon than it was last year, months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In some ways, extra security will be apparent, such as stepped-up police presence, said state Executive Office of Public Safety spokesman David Goggin. In other ways, he said, casual observers won’t notice a difference.

“We have a heightened level of security to reflect those security concerns,” Goggin said, even though there are no known threats to the marathon itself.

Even though the national terror alert was reduced Wednesday, Goggin said, security plans would not change because the marathon is big enough to warrant extra vigilance.

Police chiefs along the 26.2-mile route said security planning for Monday had been in progress for months, from federal intelligence-gathering to working out police detail schedules.

The most visible change, they said, would be an increased police presence.

“In recent years we have added personnel to make sure we have enough people out there. This year is no different, except there will be more officers working, and working longer hours,” said Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary.

The Massachusetts National Guard again will supplement police patrols. About 400 members of the guard will support police in crowd and traffic control, and some guardsmen have volunteered to run the race, public affairs officer Capt. Winfield Danielson said.

Security is coordinated among state and federal agencies through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s Framingham command post. It will rely on a mix of high-tech real time data systems, observers providing information from along the course, and police, firefighters and guardsmen who have volunteered to run the race.

Last year, the security presence included 1,500 police officers, 415 Massachusetts National Guard troops, more than 200 amateur radio operators in the crowd, and volunteers with phones at water stations. In 2001, there were about 250 National Guard troops and fewer than 1,000 law enforcement officers working the race.

Police at the starting line in Hopkinton have one of the toughest tasks of the day: overseeing 20,000 competitors and hundreds of spectators at the starting line.

“It’s safe to say security will be tighter this year than even the unprecedented security we had last year,” Hopkinton Police Chief Thomas Irvin said. “Last year was a very new experience in trying to reach that level of security. So part of the reason security will be tighter is that it can be, because we learned some things.” He would not be specific about what changes were made.

Although some police departments across Massachusetts have been hit by reservist call-ups for the war and dwindling overtime accounts due to the state’s fiscal crisis, departments along the route said they would have enough manpower to get the job done.

A month ago, the D.C. Marathon was canceled because of the war in Iraq and security concerns. About 500 people ran the 26.2 miles on the streets and sidewalks of the nation’s capital anyway, some wearing T-shirts that read, “Can’t blow up what you can’t catch.”

Irvin said security officials took notice when the Washington race was canceled. But they also recognize there’s a difference between that race, which was revived last year after a 19-year hiatus, and the 107-year-old Boston Marathon.

“What we have going for us more than anything else is this really is an international sporting event,” he said. “It’s the epitome of peace and international brotherhood and doesn’t bear any of the trappings one might associate with a target. It’s not a purely American event.”

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AP-ES-04-17-03 1353EDT