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
I think many moms and grandparents have that feeling. I even went and talked with the principal at my grandsons school about security. I was pleased with what they had done but concerned about other areas still vunerable. I don't know about in other areas but it's our little ones I have the most concerns about. To keep ours in and the bad guys out the jr high and highschools can lock down fast. Besides a high % of these students would probably despite the best of screening have access to weapons themselves and would fight back :')
PLEASE use the power of email.....pass the link around. Tell them it's not JUST San Diego.
Thank you BG.
You too, RP2
San Diego is my favorite place in the world also.
"There is no threat here," said a San Diego police lieutenant who spoke on condition of confidentiality"
"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."
Yeah, nothing like blowing up kids to piss us off. 3000 in the WTC, no big deal, that's a bunch of brokers. Dead American kids, now, that might actually make us angry enough to mobilize a war effort instead of having a weekend warrior war.
No, that's not sarcasm. It's sad, though, that now we're really just waiting for it to happen. Open borders are an invitation--and that this is the San Diego plan is evidence of how true it is that our borders are a sieve. Why should the terrorists NOT walk across from Tijuana? Everyone else does!
I'm sorry if it seemed so to you but I was in no way making light of the people who died in the WTC. I was just saying mess with our kids and we won't cower and back down but come after you , like you could never imagine.
the key phrase that jumped out to me?
"crisis planning in school districts, including San Diego"
meaning they had taken the time to "compile" and compare certain school districts... one of them San Diego.
this to me indicates the compiler had a group of places in mind, perhaps that met certain 'targetable' criteria in their terror plans, that could be useful for the bad guys.
that san diego was on the list, and is on the border, and that this is the very border known to be leaking terrorists is part of what I think makes it jump out. This has been an issue, one that is also being periodically denied (but I think Roger Hedgecock would bet to differ) by certain homeland security personell....
I think the San Diego Powers that Be... need to open up and let the people know what is going on. I think Roger H. ought to get some emails from san diegans about this, so he can put some pressure on.
WHAT is the San Diego school district and the police doing about this? and What do they suspect that we don't know?
It really is a scandal that a leo would say what was said about NOTHING TO SEE HERE per se... move along folks... (my transliteration)
If it were a list of ALL schools, or a LOT of schools, that were unrelated, this would not have 'meant' anything. Something in the list, that we DON'T know, made it an issue to be investigated. I want to know. so apparently does the UNION TRIB.
Living in a state of denial to prevent a state of panic...
hardly a way to the solution to the problem.
The fact is that the birth rate amoung islamic countries is almost twice the U.S. birth rate.
So when islamofascists kill children here, they amplify the effect on families that have no other offspring while easily having many of their own offspring to carry on jihad.
We well value the efforts of our 1000 soldiers who have died, as we should, but the relative effect on our population is little recognized.
The fascists know something our population is not facing realistically. We are in real danger.
Scary bump.
They haven't a clue, do they, if they pull this off?
Bet that's the same thing the millions pouring across our borders are thinking.
Why does the name Beslan leap to mind????
Sweat the guy holding the disc until he cracks.
Start checking the backgrounds of the teachers, cafeteria, and contracted cleaning crews RIGHT NOW!!!!
Then shut the school down. Send in the bomb and weapon dogs and tear the building apart if necessary!
Jack.
Local public library. Department of Planning or Building Permits, Humidston.
YOu know I caught that... but your highlighting it, was helpful for a lot of folks.
the email for this reporter, might get you some more data, if she has it. perhaps a follow up article might be useful.
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