Facilities here told to keep high alert. Energy threats, Super Bowl concerns cited.

Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau ^ | MICHAEL HEDGES

[Rockitz]

I'd say the biggest threat right now would be an attack on the President's State of the Union Address. That would literally cut off our head if A-Q could fly a plane into a joint session of Congress with the President and VP present, unless of course, Dick will be an an undisclosed location watching it, drinking a beer and eating pretzels.

[ken5050]

al-Queida just released a video-tape claiming that they had successfuly attacked the Dean campaign in Iowa..

[Naspino]

It makes me angry that we still do this speech like its done. With all of the technology we have we don't need to have the leadership of our country all present at the same moment in the same room. Whether their knowledge is valuable or not -- the emotional response would devastate our economy.

[Rockitz]

No argument from me- especially when we are at a state of war.

[angkor]

It would be a victory for the jihadis to do otherwise.

[mitchbert]

My understanding is that at least one member of the National Command Authority chain is always required to be absent and out of D.C. during the SOTU just in case a decapitation attack was attempted. In past years this has usually fallen to one of the lower totem pole positions (Sec of ED?) with the consolation "joke" being, "Well, look at it this way...if we lose Washington, you'll be President!"

I would hope that during times such as these they would choose a more senior member of the NCA to be absent, or more than one member, just in case.

[Naspino]

Sec of Education -- sounds like BattleStar Galactica.

[Naspino]

It would be a victory for the jihadis to do otherwise.

It has nothing to do with Al-Queda. Its way outdated and assumes we live in a world where an entire building cannot be demolished by a single weapon/person.

Its negligent in my opinion. They lead 300+ million people.

[jimt]

The Super Bowl hasn't been designated a special security event, but it is something we are aware of," he said.

They obviously don't read much Tom Clancy.

[Rockitz]

The risk is just too great. There are any number of countries such as China or even our old buddies in Russia that would only be too willing to finish the job.

[weegee]

Charles Bishra/Bishop included such a threat against the 2002 Super Bowl in his suicide note (Charles was the Tampa teen who crashed a stolen plane into a bank building). His note was not released until after the Super Bowl had been played.

I'll be getting out of town that weekend, primarily because of the additional congestion/crowding in Houston (as well as price gouging) but I've acknowleged that we could be a target. 1 billion people watch the Super Bowl. This time it is on President Bush's "home turf" (Texas) and his father has a home here.

I don't think we'd see a radioactive, biologiocal, or chemical strike. There may not even be any attack on the stadium proper. Hitting the refineries would impact the economy and American's fuel production. The national media would still be here to cover the event/tragedy.

Then again, Houston was one of the first cities destroyed in the movie Independence Day and it wasn't a "big deal". New York and LA will always generate more attention and sympathy. If it happens in flyover country, it's a "regretable loss". If it happens on the coasts it's a "national tragedy".

[weegee]

Recall too that last year as countries were being asked to "come on board" with the Iraq war resolution, Islamofascists struck out at civilians where they could. They bombed a night club that was frequented by Australian tourists. This has long happened in some countries.

The media denies that the LAX counter shooting was "terrorism". Anthrax is still tagged the work of a "lone nut". Charles Bishop was a "troubled teen" (who pledged his support for Osama and called his acts "terrorist"). You don't hear the word "terrorim" tied to the DC sniper duo. The shoe bomber barely was stopped in the act.

We HAVE been getting terrorist attacks. I don't need to hear from the security experts about the actions they stopped (it would give information to the underground). It is foolish to believe that we have been perfectly safe since the 9.11.2001 attacks.

It is even a mistake to believe that 9.11.2001 was the first domestic strike. In 1993 there was an attempt to blow up the WTC (and the poison gas used in that attack incinerated). There was a muslim sniper outside of the CIA entrance in the 1990s too. Again, many other attacks may have been attributed to lone nuts (and not just some controversial attacks like OKC).

[weegee]

Houston PING, please.

[Flyer]

"There seems to be an ongoing series of attempts by unidentified persons to do surveillance at refineries and petrochemical plants, including those in the Houston-Galveston area," he said. "There have been a number of reports of people taking pictures, of unidentified people spotted at loading docks."

*PING!*

As always, a FReep mail will get you on or off this Houston topics ping list.

[Flyer]

Thanks for the ping PING.

[Dog Gone]

A lot of people are already saying that this year's matchup in the Super Bowl is already a bomb.

[Eaker]

LOL!!!!

[flutters]

Ping

[eastforker]

For one thing Valero in Houston doesn't need any help from terrorist to blow up, they can do that fine by themselves. At Exxon/Mobil in Baytown the Night Shift Super got his company suburban stolen out of the plant about 8 months ago.Then there was the crazy truck driver that drove his tanker truck into the plant down the RR tracks. Oh yea, did I tell yea about the locomotive engineer that was dragged off the train before entering the plant cuz he was drunk. You will never read about that in the Chronicle. Here's the point,If this kinda stuff is going on all around the country without it being reported, what else is going on we don't know about.