[Infowarrior] - U.S. Terror Targets: Petting Zoo and Flea Market?

[Richard Forno]

July 12, 2006
U.S. Terror Targets: Petting Zoo and Flea Market?
By ERIC LIPTON
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/washington/12assets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&
pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, July 11 ‹ It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a
child might have written: Old MacDonald¹s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country
Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an
unspecified ³Beach at End of a Street.²

But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a
report released Tuesday, found that the list was not child¹s play: all these
³unusual or out-of-place² sites ³whose criticality is not readily apparent²
are inexplicably included in the federal antiterrorism database.

The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector
general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist
targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more
than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most
target-rich place in the nation.

The database is used by the Homeland Security Department to help divvy up
the hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year,
including the program announced in May that cut money to New York City and
Washington by 40 percent, while significantly increasing spending for cities
including Louisville, Ky., and Omaha.

³We don¹t find it embarrassing,² said the department¹s deputy press
secretary, Jarrod Agen. ³The list is a valuable tool.²

But the audit says that lower-level department officials agreed that some
older information in the inventory ³was of low quality and that they had
little faith in it.²

³The presence of large numbers of out-of-place assets taints the credibility
of the data,² the report says.

In addition to the petting zoo, in Woodville, Ala., and the Mule Day Parade
in Columbia, Tenn., the auditors questioned many entries, including ³Nix¹s
Check Cashing,² ³Mall at Sears,² ³Ice Cream Parlor,² ³Tackle Shop,² ³Donut
Shop,² ³Anti-Cruelty Society² and ³Bean Fest.²

Even people connected to some of those businesses or events are baffled at
their inclusion as possible terrorist targets.

³Seems like someone has gone overboard,² said Larry Buss, who helps organize
the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill. ³Their time could be spent
better doing other things, like providing security for the country.²

Angela McNabb, manager of the Sweetwater Flea Market, which is 50 miles from
Knoxville, Tenn., said: ³I don¹t know where they get their information. We
are talking about a flea market here.²

New York City officials, who have questioned the rationale for the reduction
in this year¹s antiterrorism grants, were similarly blunt.

³Now we know why the Homeland Security grant formula came out as wacky as it
was,² Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Tuesday. ³This
report is the smoking gun that thoroughly indicts the system.²

The source of the problems, the audit said, appears to be insufficient
definitions or standards for inclusion provided to the states, which submit
lists of locations for the database.

New York, for example, lists only 2 percent of the nation¹s banking and
finance sector assets, which ranks it between North Dakota and Missouri.
Washington State lists nearly twice as many national monuments and icons as
the District of Columbia.

Montana, one of the least populous states in the nation, turned up with far
more assets than big-population states including Massachusetts, North
Carolina and New Jersey.

The inspector general questions whether many of the sites listed in whole
categories ‹ like the 1,305 casinos, 163 water parks, 159 cruise ships, 244
jails, 3,773 malls, 718 mortuaries and 571 nursing homes ‹ should even be
included in the tally.

But the report also notes that the list ³may have too few assets in
essential areas.² It apparently does not include many major business and
finance operations or critical national telecommunications hubs.

The department does not release the list of 77,069 sites, but the report
said that as of January it included 17,327 commercial properties like office
buildings, malls and shopping centers, 12,019 government facilities, 8,402
public health buildings, 7,889 power plants and 2,963 sites with chemical or
hazardous materials.

George W. Foresman, the department¹s under secretary for preparedness, said
the audit misunderstood the purpose of the database, as it was an inventory
or catalog of national assets, not a prioritized list of the most critical
sites.The database is just one of many sources consulted in deciding
antiterrorism grants.

The inspector general recommends that the department review the list and
determine which of the ³extremely insignificant² assets that have been
included should remain and provide better guidance to states on what to
submit in the future.

Mr. Agen, the Homeland Security Department spokesman, said that he agreed
that his agency should provide better directions for the states and that it
would do so in the future.

One business owner who learned from a reporter that a company named Amish
Country Popcorn was on the list was at first puzzled. The businessman, Brian
Lehman, said he owned the only operation in the country with that name.

³I am out in the middle of nowhere,² said Mr. Lehman, whose business in
Berne, Ind., has five employees and grows and distributes popcorn. ³We are
nothing but a bunch of Amish buggies and tractors out here. No one would
care.²

But on second thought, he came up with an explanation: ³Maybe because
popcorn explodes?²