Palo Verde Nuke Plant may be target
Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Arizona National Guard troops were posted around the Palo Verde nuclear plant this week reportedly because of a specific terrorist threat against the facility.
About half of El Paso Electric Co.'s power is supplied by the nuclear power plant west of Phoenix.
Gov. Janet Napolitano did not confirm a threat against the plant when she sent National Guard troops there on Tuesday, saying only that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had received a number of unspecified threats.
But The Washington Times reported Thursday that "terrorists have targeted the United States' largest nuclear power plant west of Phoenix, and security officials are looking for Iraqi government Ôsleeper cells' that might carry out the attack."
The threat was described as "uncorroborated," and as part of classified intelligence reports given to local law enforcement and security officials.
Arizona's Homeland Security Director Chuck Blanchard said he could not comment about any specific threats. But he said he had complete confidence in the safety at Palo Verde, and added that even without a threat, Napolitano would have sent troops to the plant once the U.S. was put on Orange Alert status - second only to red in a five-color scheme to describe the threat level - because the plant is an "obvious target."
"I think the safest place to be right now anywhere may be within the walls of Palo Verde," Blanchard said. "The security even before the Orange Alert was very intensive. And now it's even more dramatic. Regardless of the truth or untruth of other media reports, it's a safe place to be."
The Washington Times' report Thursday also reported that six Iraqi citizens were detained earlier this week trying to enter the United States from Tijuana, Mexico.
And the paper reported that unnamed Border Patrol authorities confirmed that a backpack found last week on a southern Arizona trail frequently used by undocumented immigrants contained a diary written in Arabic. The sources said the diary, which was handed over to the FBI, contained names and telephone numbers of at least two people in Canada and Iran.