Ridge: Terrorists may disrupt November elections
Intelligence shows that terrorists have "an indication of intent" to disrupt the November election, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday at a symposium in the Poconos.
But Ridge said officials can't pinpoint the who, what, where, when or why of the threat.
Nevertheless, the former Pennsylvania governor said he rests soundly at night, knowing that the nation's security is improved.
Ridge also said Pennsylvania's nine anti-terrorism task forces are a national model for how states should work regionally to get the most out of their anti-terrorism buck.
Read more in Wednesday's Morning Call.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-ridge0921,0,6782221.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed
NY scrambling to handle nuke strike
Source: NY Post | 10:20:44 PM EST
September 21, 2004 -- If terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in the city, as many as 1 million people will have to be tested and treated for radiation and officials will confront mass hysteria that could cause as many casualties as the device, experts say.
But more than three years after the 9/11 attacks, the city Health Department only now is creating a plan to deal with a doomsday scenario.
The department says it will award a $150,000 contract later this year — funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security — for a step-by-step blueprint detailing the city's reaction to a nuclear disaster.
The "request for proposals" from experts bidding on the contract says the new protocols will complement current disaster plans, but notes that in the case of mass screenings, there are "no federal or other guidelines to respond to this type of demand."
Elected officials yesterday questioned why it took so long to start planning for a possible nuclear attack.
"I'm concerned with what's presently in place while we await the results of this RFP process," said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee. "Apparently, we're not as far along as we thought."
A spokesman for the Health Department said that the city had been planning for nuclear attacks even before Sept. 11, but this is the first effort to coordinate a wide variety of agencies.
The spokesman added that the new program will be "the first of its kind on any level, city, state or federal."
Depending on the magnitude of an attack, officials want to be capable of establishing two screening centers in each borough and testing up to 1 million people within 72 hours.
Once those who are contaminated are identified and quarantined, treatment might range from a simple shower to a battery of vaccinations.
In the case of a dirty bomb, which is a conventional explosive device that scatters radioactive materials, those exposed would have to be tracked for decades.
Panic may be more dangerous than the attack itself, said Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense and the author of "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe."
A small nuclear bomb carried in a backpack could cause as much devastation as the bomb that virtually destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II.
"The fact that we're getting around to this three years after 9/11 seems implausible," Allison said.
"But once a nuclear bomb is in your city, there is very little you can do. We need to focus on preventing the attack before it occurs."
http://www.trackingterrorism.com/index.asp?dismode=article&artid=270