Posted on 09/30/2004 5:12:44 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2
No threat seen to district; children are safe, police say By Kelly Thornton UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
A man arrested by U.S. authorities in Iraq had a computer disk in his possession containing a public report downloaded from a U.S. Department of Education Web site on crisis planning in school districts, including San Diego Unified.
The man was described as an Iraqi national with connections to terrorism and the insurgency that is fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. Officials in San Diego said the man's intentions were unknown.
San Diego law enforcement officials said there was no indication of any terrorist plot against schools in San Diego or elsewhere in the country. They did not publicly release the information because there appeared to be no threat. The information was relayed to the San Diego FBI office last week and then to the school district Friday.
"The children are absolutely safe," said San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne. "If there was a threat, we, the San Diego Police Department, would be first to notify (parents). This is not a threat."
The disk contained a document entitled "Practical Information on Crisis Planning, A Guide for Schools and Communities." The 50-plus page document, published in May 2003 by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, is available to the public on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site, said San Diego District spokeswoman Peri Lynn Turnbull.
FBI officials visited the office of district Superintendent Alan Bersin Friday to inform him, Turnbull said. Because there was no indication that terrorists were targeting any schools, in San Diego or elsewhere, the district informed the school police department, but decided not to notify schools and parents.
"We certainly did not want to create any unnecessary panic in our community," Turnbull said. The FBI said because there was no specific threat, that was the appropriate response.
"The superintendent was alerted by the FBI that there were no direct threats to the district or any San Diego school and that by our maintaining our same level of care and concern that our schools would be safe," Turnbull said.
Dan Dzwilewski, head of the FBI office in San Diego, said there is no reason for alarm.
"We don't know the intention of the person that had this material," Dzwilewski said. "But the disk contained absolutely no threat information. It's only out of an abundance of caution – because it was discovered in Iraq
– that we shared this with another public agency."
Some counterterrorism officials said they were concerned that the information would be misinterpreted and would alarm people unnecessarily. They said the information was withheld from the public because there was no specific threat, and the public may become inured to repeated general warnings of vague possibilities of attacks.
"There is no threat here," said a San Diego police lieutenant who spoke on condition of confidentiality because of the sensitive nature of such investigations. "When you've put out information month after month after month, the public thinks we're crying wolf.
"The context here is, a public source document put out by the U.S. Department of Education was found on a computer. Period. My concern would be if a particular school district, or a particular school, or a particular institution was targeted, which it has not been."
Lansdowne said the situation shows that the federal government is sharing information with local agencies in an efficient manner.
"I think it's a good indication of how quickly we're notified and the thoroughness of the information we receive," the chief said. "They give us all the information now and allow local jurisdictions to do with it what they think they should."
Lansdowne said the report on the disk lauds the district as an example of good planning.
The document mentions other school districts and gives information about evacuations, lockdowns and other emergency procedures in the event of a disaster, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack.
"If somebody read the article, they would say we're not going to pick San Diego because they have a very good plan in place," Lansdowne said. "It's probably more good news than bad news."
Kelly Thornton: (619) 542-4571;
kelly.thornton@uniontrib.com
Uh Huh. IIRC, the school in Russia had security guards and they were shot down first.
If they'd have tried it in an Israeli school, they'd probably have been the only fatalities. But we need a Global Test before we arm any folks around schools....so we don't offend "other countries"(?)
Loading/unloading is probably our most vunerable time. I told my DIL this morning I did not want her to be an alarmist but be aware and look around. Look for people you aren't used to seeing, people sitting in cars without kids etc and if she sees anything concerning to not go in. Better for my grandson to be a few minutes late than a hostage.
"how unbelievably STUPID can they really think we are?"
They think we are so unbelieveably stupid that not only should we believe this crap, but also that our borders are secure. Just last night HOMELAND SECURITY people assured us that there are NO terrorists coming across our borders... they know that for sure too. We are also so unbelieveably stupid that we should just accept the Mexican "guestworker" program and allow millions and millions and millions and millions more illegals into our country.
BTTT
BTTT
Again
"Scary. I could see terrorist thinking hurting our children would bring us to our knees. What a surprise they would have coming if they tried to mess with our kids though."
We see kids as our future they see kids as a Possession
Don't take it that I was insulting you. Not at all--your point is a good one.
But it's just too bad that for the American people (ALL of them) to wake up, a school HERE will probably have to be taken hostage. Of course, then the result will be that the MSM agitates for a wholesale gun ban. The Congress jumps on board. Neither will talk about improving the government in its fundamental role of national defense through border control, of course. THAT would be silly.
bump
Not only that, but Kerry TOLD us that the threat of terrorism is exaggerated.
Just heard on the ABC top of the hour news that the second town is Pleasant Hill, CA. I live there. Son goes to a different town's school.
Good God.
PRAY HARD.
The plans don't mean they have a team ready to attack. It could just be deep planning reference material. I don't think they'll attack San Diego, which is an important "safe house" for islamic terrorists, and they won't want to bring heat to it.
I hope.
I did see what you had written about SD. I hope this is squashed. (We're not in SD, tho.)
As I mentioned to my Freeper business partner: God help the Islamist who messes with American parents.
Anything you might have to help, even in FReepmail, would be greatly appreciated.
I thank God that he became a little Freeper in 2000. The right attitude is a MUST for survival.
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