AUGUSTA (AP) – After participating in a 50-state security briefing following the terrorist attacks Thursday in Britain, Gov. John Baldacci said he was “outraged” but urged calm and vigilance.

“In Maine, we are deeply saddened by those cowardly acts of terrorism,” Baldacci said during a briefing in his office. “Our thoughts and prayers (go) to the victims and their families.”

Baldacci said he participated in a conference call with federal Homeland Security officials at Maine Emergency Management headquarters after the attacks. He said the nation’s terror alert is being raised on bus, train and ferry systems in all of the states, but not airports.

“This is not a time to be anxious, but a time to be vigilant,” the governor said, adding that he had also spoken with state mass-transit officials about the need for intensified monitoring and supervision.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency communicated with local bus service providers following the decision to raise the threat level for the nation’s mass transit systems, said MEMA’s Charlie Jacobs.

Vigilance was being stepped up by mass transit providers across the state, said Jacobs, but the changes were “not dramatic” and commuters probably wouldn’t notice anything different Thursday on buses in Maine. The biggest intra-city mass transit bus systems are in South Portland and Portland, Lewiston and Auburn, Bangor and Augusta, he said.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine issued statements offering their sympathies to the people of London and the families and friends of the dead and injured.

The Republican senators called for solidarity among nations in the war against terrorism.

“We will support the people of the United Kingdom as they stood by us when our country was attacked on September 11th,” Collins said. “We must maintain a unified front against those who intend to harm the countries and people who support freedom and democracy.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said he was “confident that the British people will not be intimidated by terrorism. Americans and Britons remain determined to defeat the global network of terrorists who seek to destroy our shared democratic values.”

Fellow Maine Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud called the attacks “a despicable display, apparently by terrorists who promote fear, violence and hate.”

“We must continue to fight terror abroad, and work with our allies and the global community to make a safer world,” said Michaud.

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