Thursday, July 13, 2006
Homeland Security report cites dubious targets.
A Homeland Security department report available as a pdf file here, has petting zoos, and ice cream parlors identified as potential targets in with seaports and power plants.
The report consisted of targets submitted by each state as potential terrorist targets. The states had submitted a bean fest, an Amish popcorn company, a beach at the end of a street, a bourbon festival, golf courses, a yacht repair firm, a donut shop, a groundhog zoo and a kangaroo conservation center as just some of the dubious targets in need of protection.
Now I've been to the Kangaroo Conservation Center which is in Dawsonville, and I have a hard time imagining that any serious jihadi would consider it a worthwhile target. In addition some of the states obviously have delusions of grandeur with regards to their viability as terrorist targets.
-Indiana has submitted 8,591 targets more than any other state and close to 3,000 more than New York (5,687).
- Vermont and New Hampshire reported only 70 and 77 assets respectively.
By comparison, Wisconsin reported a hundred times as many
assets (7,146)
- 1,305 casinos, 25 golf courses, 24 swimming
pools, 44 recreational centers, 159 cruise ships and 163 water parks were reported as targets.
- Washington state lists 65 national monuments and icons, while Washington,
D.C. lists only 37.
- New York lists only two percent of the nation's banking & finance
sector assets, ranking between North Dakota and Missouri.
The problem with all this reporting is that it muddies the water and perhaps take from the urgency of protecting sites that really need it. Let's hope that DHS will discover a rash of competence and actually appropriately determine where homeland security funding should go.
The report consisted of targets submitted by each state as potential terrorist targets. The states had submitted a bean fest, an Amish popcorn company, a beach at the end of a street, a bourbon festival, golf courses, a yacht repair firm, a donut shop, a groundhog zoo and a kangaroo conservation center as just some of the dubious targets in need of protection.
Now I've been to the Kangaroo Conservation Center which is in Dawsonville, and I have a hard time imagining that any serious jihadi would consider it a worthwhile target. In addition some of the states obviously have delusions of grandeur with regards to their viability as terrorist targets.
-Indiana has submitted 8,591 targets more than any other state and close to 3,000 more than New York (5,687).
- Vermont and New Hampshire reported only 70 and 77 assets respectively.
By comparison, Wisconsin reported a hundred times as many
assets (7,146)
- 1,305 casinos, 25 golf courses, 24 swimming
pools, 44 recreational centers, 159 cruise ships and 163 water parks were reported as targets.
- Washington state lists 65 national monuments and icons, while Washington,
D.C. lists only 37.
- New York lists only two percent of the nation's banking & finance
sector assets, ranking between North Dakota and Missouri.
The problem with all this reporting is that it muddies the water and perhaps take from the urgency of protecting sites that really need it. Let's hope that DHS will discover a rash of competence and actually appropriately determine where homeland security funding should go.
