[Paul Ross]

The caption doesn't do the grad student justice in this case, as he was actually trying to do what the Homeland Security Dept. is paid to do...but DOESN'T DO. Think outside the box, and anticipate the next attack targets.

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[ikka]

They should publish it far and wide; this would force the proper response, which is to build in redundancy everywhere it is needed.

The old "security through obscurity" method does not work well. After all, if he can build this map, so can others.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Right after 9-11, I ran into a public web site that had similar "where the goods are" information and sent an email to the webmaster about why he should not publish it. He replied VERY unpolitely so I referred his site to the DOJ. Weeks later, the webmaster was quoted in an out-of-state newspaper as being under "federal investigation", he stuttered a quote about being "a good American like everyone else", and best of all, his web site had been stripped of the potentially harmful material.

Without saying what the site was, I assure you that Americans wouldn't want its information freely available to terrorists, especially under the "management" of someone who would publish anything.

It's a highly debatable question: who decides what's public and not? Based on the response from the DOJ, I'm confident that at least one other person (probably a few) thought my argument had weight.

[txzman]

This was actually a very good story from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23689-2003Jul7.html

The guy is as surprised as we are about the detail of information he was able to put together - ALL from publicly available sites.

Amazing still how everyone in this day and age still wants to shoot the messenger...

[Jeff Head]

The guy did an AMAZING job! ... one that Homeland should be focused on at the top level while empowering local authorities to hire, train and equip local volunteers to do the 24X7 survellience of our local infra-structure.

But this attitude concerns me...

"Does this mean I have to redo my PhD? They're worried about national security. I'm worried about getting my degree."

It is a National Security issue and he has put in place a great tool for defense, but also a powerful tool for the enemy should they get a hold of it. I'm sure the NSA and others could prevail on the school to make sure he got credit for it towards his degree and still keep it out of the hands of the enemy. Jeff

[aruanan]

I think the grad student should have his attorney talk to NewsMax.

[The KG9 Kid]

Fiddle dee dee with the graduate degree. This man has a career at the CIA ahead of him.

[jocon307]

"Classify my dissertation? Crap. Does this mean I have to redo my PhD? They're worried about national security. I'm worried about getting my degree."

But, he said, "You don't want to give terrorists a road map to blow that up."

LOL, late reply to this, but when you take that remark out of context it sounds like something out of The Onion!