S.D. school crisis plan is found on disk in Iraq

San Diego Union Trib ^ | September 30, 2004 | By Kelly Thornton

[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

[True Capitalist]

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.

Note: this is school districtS...plural

We must be notified of every school district whose information was compromised. Since the government refuses to take this threat seriously, it is up to the citizens to do so.

[doug from upland]

because there appeared to be no threat
============================================

Are the bad guys going to warn them?

[Bedford Forrest]

San Diego is one of those places where a series of teams could penetrate in one night, meet up with sleepers in San Diego, which I am confident there ARE... and carry out a massacre that would make Beslan look like a Christian Ice Cream Social...

At which point those gutter cult septic tank cities called, Mecca, Medina, Baghdad & Damascus cease to exist, simultaneously. Here in the United States, complete racial profiling of all mid-eastern people, starting with the Zogbys, is implemented and any Muslim on US soil who does not immediately renounce and forswear all adherence to the evil gutter cult gets shipped back to the mid-eastern third world pesthole of his choice. And if our government is too squishy to respond in this fashion, well, other scenarios may unfold.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Beslan in America ping

[radicalamericannationalist]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

[We Happy Few]

My friends in California don't take the danger of terrorism seriously enough. Ground Zero is an abstraction to them.

[radicalamericannationalist]

Hmm. 9-11 hijackers stayed here. San Diego schools are full of the children of Marines and Navy sailors. But there's nothing to worry about. Sure.

[traderrob6]

Let the security Moms see this story......you arouse the protective instinct in a women and you truly do have a potent force

[Robert_Paulson2]

PRE rotc ought to be offered as a required 'elective' on every campus to receive federal funds. ROTC juniors and seniors should spend part of their day, or one day a week, in ROTC training drills, at local elementaries and middle schools.

Yes, there should also be close drilling, hand to hand and firearm training.

We can 'ROTC' just as well as the muzzies can 'madrassa.'

Our young adults could then occupy themselves with training for defense, while conducting the care and watching of our little kids. Add one or two RETIRED senior citizens of the Guard or Army Reserve background... with side arms and a roving band of auxillary coast guard or national guard reserves... ARMED. A few radios... and allah might just be surprised.

America will need to militarize the training of our kids, if we are going to continue the public schools. This is very likely not the decade of terrorism, nor the century of assymetrical warfare, but the beginning of a muslim millenia of war, and either conquest or defeat.

WE have no idea how much things have changed, in this age since 9/11, which turns out was the wakeup call of allah aakbarf. They are in this for a LONG TERM, assymetric war targetting non combattant 'easy kills' and 'gruesome sensless violence' that will no doubt mimic our worst nightmares from the recorded nightmare visions of bus bombs and nailbelt bombers, going off all over in israel.

Islam will not be pacified or go quietly with targetted resistance and hop skotch nation building. I hope we don't get another wakeup call. But it is looking pretty sure, they are working on it as we type here.

[True Capitalist]

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.

This attitude from government officials in unacceptable. Whether the threat is specific is irrelevant.

[Kay Ludlow]

Some of the comments that come out of homeland security and other agencies these days, sound as if the persons issuing them had swapped brains with a camel.

You've got that right! Having gotten somewhat involved with emergency planning at work, I am alarmed at the attitude of the emergency planning professionals! They are very concerned about controlling the flow of information, making sure only those with a need to know get it, all to "avoid panic".

I'd say one thing we should have learned from 9/11 is that even in NY and DC, when there's a real crisis, people with information DON'T panic! TV kept everyone who wanted to know informed, and there was no panic. Same with the Northeast Blackout. Information is power, and the more information you provide people, the more power they have over their lives - which reduces panic.

[Robert_Paulson2]

Sure, why not.
After all, somebody in local law thinks this is something to downplay... after all, they don't want the 2nd amendment people to raze the local mosques and 'persecute' the people of cover.. now do they?

wouldn't be NICE, now would it?

excuse my vomit.
We don't want folks to think that Beslan could be a suburb of Miramar do we?

[Brad’s Gramma]

bttt for later.........

[radicalamericannationalist]

I live outside San Diego, just called my sister to tell her about this. I figure the terrorists hit Beslan at the dropp-off, they'd do it here. So I told her if she was feeling any kind of weirdness, to get the heck out of there with the munchkins.

[Peach]

I urge everyone on this thread to send this article to your e-mail address list, at least those with kids in schools.

Those security moms need to think very carefully before they vote on November 2nd.

[Chode]

It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here
Because I been checkin' it out, baby
I checked it out a couple a times

But I'm telling you
It can't happen here
Oh darling, it's important that you believe me
(Bop bop bop bop)
That it can't happen here

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

[daybreakcoming]

Just look what they did to the Iraqi children today. And we are suppose to think they wish OUR children well?

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. As long as it is not law enforcement confidential, information is needed, not to be denied.

Even in this day and age, the first comment about this issue, is one of denial. How many times in our nation's history, has denial cost us dearly?

I see it all too often.

[Robert_Paulson2]

brilliant aren't they.
open borders.
no threat here.
move along.
muslims are our friends.

question:
the mosque on murray ridge/phyllis place on 805 overlooking mission valley... is that a wahhibi mosque or one of the 'moderate' ones?

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. I don't know the answer to your question though.