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Didn't know if you both caught these 2 items...

DHS Advisory- Mass Transit Videotaping

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060504-094403-7494r

Ferries a top terror target, FBI cautions

Local office links ranking to reporting of incidents
"Our conclusion was that there was an extremely high likelihood, in
a handful of incidents, that there was pre-operation planning" for a
terrorist attack on the ferry system, said supervisory intelligence
analyst Ted Turner of Seattle's FBI office."

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY AND MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTERS

Puget Sound's busy ferries are the No. 1 target for maritime
terrorism in this country, sharing that nerve-jangling status with
Gulf Coast fuel tankers, according to a national assessment of
efforts to protect U.S. seaports.

The findings, contained in a recent Justice Department inspector
general's report, mark the first time the FBI has publicly placed
such a high-risk label on Washington State Ferries.

Karen Ducey / P-I
Christina Ulloa, originally from Bainbridge Island, and Joseph
Ferrante, both now living in Los Angeles, ride the ferry to
Bainbridge Island from Seattle on Thursday.
The ranking was based largely on an analysis of significant
suspicious incidents at maritime facilities around the country.

"Our conclusion was that there was an extremely high likelihood, in
a handful of incidents, that there was pre-operation planning" for a
terrorist attack on the ferry system, said supervisory intelligence
analyst Ted Turner of Seattle's FBI office.

But Turner and other local FBI officials, along with the Coast
Guard, suggested Thursday that the top ranking may be because of
more aggressive reporting in this region.

Turner credited his agency's "very robust" efforts to monitor all
suspicious incidents and the Washington State Ferries program to
enlist help from crews and passengers as being likely factors in
driving up the number of reported incidents.

"You cannot conclude from the fact that we have a lot of
intelligence reporting that we are a No. 1 target," said Laura
Laughlin, the FBI's special agent in charge in Seattle. "Obviously,
the potential for a terrorist incident is here. But that's reading a
lot into it to say that."

The inspector general's report, released last month, praised the
Seattle FBI office's innovative intelligence assessments of
potential threats to the ferry system, the first of which was
released in May 2004.

Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
After the Seattle FBI office released an assessment of potential
threats in 2004, steps were taken to improve security on ferries,
including Coast Guard escorts.
After that assessment, several steps were taken to improve ferry
security, including the introduction of bomb-sniffing dogs,
elimination of unaccompanied freight and additional surveillance
equipment. State Patrol troopers also began riding the ferries,
accompanied in the water by heavily armed Coast Guard SWAT team
boats.

Between April 2004 and September 2005, the FBI compiled reports on
247 suspicious incidents involving the ferry system, a major
increase from the 157 documented between the 9/11 attacks and April
2004.

But Turner said there have been fewer incidents considered high-risk
in the most recent reporting period.

"We've never been able to tie a specific incident to a terrorist
group," he said. "We've never been able to tie a specific incident
to a terrorist plan."

The Washington ferry system is the biggest in the United States.
Some ferries can hold up to 2,500 passengers and 212 vehicles.

The national report hasn't resulted in an increase in the maritime
security alert level, said Coast Guard Capt. Stephen Metruck, who as
captain-of-the-port holds sway over maritime operations, controlling
and setting maritime security levels in Puget Sound.

But Metruck said a wide range of security enhancements have gone
into effect in the last couple of years and the measures are being
continuously re-evaluated.

For its seaport-protection report, the inspector general asked the
FBI's Threat Monitoring Unit to identify all maritime-related
suspicious incidents reported from September 2004 to September 2005
to its computerized Guardian Threat Tracking System.

Of 51,000 suspicious incidents reported around the nation, "the FBI
identified (the) 68 (most significant) maritime-related incidents,
with the greatest concentration found in the Seattle area," the
report states.

The report also noted "a substantial number of threats along the
Gulf Coast, which most likely involved suspected surveillance of
energy facilities and oil tankers."

Of the 68 incidents, 46 are considered to be acts of surveillance by
terrorists.

Nearly half the suspected maritime targets nationally were terminals
and ferries, and both were "frequently filmed or photographed in the
Seattle area by people acting suspiciously," the report said.

Neither the local FBI office nor the Coast Guard would discuss
specific incidents.

Karen Ducey / P-I
Passengers depart Thursday from the ferry at Bainbridge Island
from Seattle. The Washington ferry system is the nation's biggest.
However, a September 2004 incident briefing report was obtained by
cryptome.org, a Web site that often posts classified documents. The
report states:

"WASHINGTON: Suspicious Activity of Two Middle Eastern Males on
Ferry. According to USCG reporting, on 27 September, in Seattle, two
Middle Eastern males were observed studying the schematic of the
Wenatchee Ferry for an extended period of time. As soon as the two
males noticed an employee approaching, they immediately walked away
from the schematic and picked up a magazine to ward off attention.
At the end of the voyage, the two males returned to their vehicle. A
license plate check revealed the vehicle belonged to a rental
company. Information from the rental company on the vehicle
indicated that it was rented to a business located in Tukwila. The
business was unable to be located. An investigation is ongoing."

Turner would not comment on the investigation, except to say "the
key here is we've got something to follow up on -- a license plate."
Laughlin urged ferry riders to be vigilant and report any suspicious
activity.

"We are tracking down every suspicious incident that is brought to
our attention," she said. "It will be followed up."

At Seattle's Colman Dock, ferry passengers waiting for the 2:05 p.m.
boat to Bainbridge on Thursday took the inspector general's report
in stride.

"If it's the highest threat here, why don't we have more security
here like we do at the airports?" asked Anya Averill, 52, of
Portland, who was visiting friends. "I will notice things when I'm
flying. I'll go to the desk and say, 'There's a suitcase over there
with no person.' "

But Craig Swanson, 53, of Bainbridge said, "I would worry more about
being hit by a car on the freeway than being hit by a terrorist."

Jenn Spies, 16, of Bainbridge, agreed. "If it was a big concern of
mine," she said, "I wouldn't be riding on the ferry."

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or
paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/267580_ferryterror21.htm
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by Ann Coulter
May 10, 2006

It's pretty pathetic when a Kennedy is too drunk to drive into the Potomac. After the visibly intoxicated Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car into a police barrier near the Capitol just before 3 a.m. last Thursday morning, he explained to the police he was hurrying back to the Capitol for a vote, a procedure known on the Hill as "last call." It could have been a lot worse: Patrick's designated driver that night was Ted Kennedy.

At some point in his scrolling list of excuses, Kennedy eventually claimed he was addicted to prescription drugs and checked himself into the newly opened Kennedy Wing of the Mayo Clinic. He explained he had been "sleep driving." If people fall for his story, his father, Ted, plans to attribute his last immigration bill to "sleep legislating."

Coming right on the heels of a three-year witch-hunt directed at Rush Limbaugh for an addiction to prescription drugs (because of his politics) — as well as the continuing threat to put Tom DeLay in prison (because of his politics) — you would think there would be at least some serious discussion of prosecuting the young Kennedy for his addiction to prescription drugs, too.

Perhaps the Republican attorney general in Washington needs to interview Democratic Palm Beach prosecutor Barry Krischer, who wasted three years and untold taxpayer dollars trying to frame Limbaugh, about the danger to society of prescription drug addiction.

Baseball has a system to protect batters from being hit: If your pitcher hits one of our guys, our pitcher will hit one of your guys. This is also the only argument that ever works with Democrats.

Democrats adored the independent counsel statute — until it was used to catch an actual felon in the Oval Office. Then they noticed all sorts of problems with the law. Democrats swore up and down that women never lie about rape — until that same felon was credibly accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick on "NBC News," not to mention the four other card-carrying Democratic women who described being raped by Bill Clinton in eerily similar detail in Christopher Hitchens' book "No One Left To Lie To."

Conservatives will continue to be threatened with prison on trumped-up charges until Democrats start having to worry about being prosecuted for minor offenses, too — though, in Kennedy's case, not as minor as Rush Limbaugh's offense, which never involved smashing his car into a police barrier. (In Rep. Kennedy's defense, at least he didn't drown the woman in his car and then disappear for nine hours.)

Democrats have declared war against Republicans, and Republicans are wandering around like a bunch of ninny Neville Chamberlains, congratulating themselves on their excellent behavior. They'll have some terrific stories about their Gandhi-like passivity to share while sitting in cells at Guantanamo after Hillary is elected.

For a political party that grasps the concept of victory against foreign enemies, Republicans can't seem to grasp that concept when it comes to domestic enemies. Instead of taking a page from Sun-tzu's "Art of War," when it comes to fighting liberals, American conservatives prefer the Jimmy Carter unconditional surrender strategy.

Patriotic Americans don't have to become dangerous psychotics like liberals, but they could at least act like men.

Why hasn't the former spokesman for the Taliban matriculating at Yale been beaten even more senseless than he already is? According to Hollywood, this nation is a cauldron of ethnic hatreds positively brimming with violent skinheads. Where are the skinheads when you need them? What does a girl have to do to get an angry, club- and torch-wielding mob on its feet?

There is not the remotest possibility that a man who was recently defending shooting women in the head for wearing nail polish will so much as be snubbed on the Yale campus.

The only violence on college campuses these days occurs when people like David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin and me show up to give a speech in defense of America. Then we need bomb-sniffing dogs and a lecture hall lined with armed police. But a Talibanist goes about his day at Yale unmolested.

Conservatives may shrink from confrontation with howling, violent liberals, but as General "Buck" Turgidson in "Dr. Strangelove" informed the milquetoast president still hoping to avert a nuclear confrontation with the Russkies: "Well, Mr. President, I would say that General Ripper has already invalidated that policy."

Well, conservatives, I would say liberals have already invalidated your "Let's all just get along" policy.

The violence and threats of imprisonment have started. Now the only question is whether conservatives will choose victory.

COPYRIGHT 2006 ANN COULTER

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