3rd climber attempts to scale NY Times skyscraper

David Malone, 29, reached the 11th floor of the Manhattan building before descending to a ledge, where he spent hours making cell phone calls and talking to police. He was arrested about 5:20 a.m.

At one point, Malone hung a small white and red banner, which covered part of the letter "T" in "The" on the Times' sign. His banner referenced al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, police said.

Malone said news reports of two other climbers on the building in the past five weeks inspired him to seek publicity for his own activism, and those stories helped him figure out how to do it, according to police.

On June 5, Alain Robert climbed the skyscraper and unfurled a banner about global warming, followed hours later by Renaldo Clarke, proclaiming the dangers of malaria. The building, which the newspaper company moved into last year, is designed with slats that the men climbed like a ladder.

Malone called a night editor at the New York Daily News--housed in another Manhattan building--during his climb, saying Americans underestimate al-Qaida's threat to national security.

Malone, from West Hartford, Conn., is an activist who studies al-Qaida, according to a posting on his Web site. He is the author of the book "Bin Laden's Plan," which argues that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were part of a plot to provoke the U.S. into invading Iraq.

Police brought the Daily News editor to the scene, and hostage negotiators worked to get the climber down to the fifth floor, where he was invited inside to speak to the editor, said police spokesman Paul Browne. That's when officers took him into custody.

Malone was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation and arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. He was awaiting arraignment.

Dozens of police and firefighters responded about 1:30 a.m., when the climber was first spotted. Streets were closed and an inflatable cushion was placed in front of the building's main entrance.