Posted on 08/05/2004 6:57:32 AM PDT by Joe Brower
Claimed terror plot 'didn't happen'
There's no evidence of Katherine Harris' claims about a bomb scheme, an Indiana official says.
By DAVID HACKETT
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Aug. 5, 2004
VENICE -- The director of the Indiana Counter-Terrorism and Security Council said Wednesday that there is no evidence to back up a claim by U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris that a man of Middle Eastern heritage had plotted to blow up the Midwest power grid in a suburb of Indianapolis.
Speaking Monday night at a gathering of 600 supporters at a rally in Venice, Harris characterized the plotter's arrest in Indiana as a striking example of the nation's success in fighting terrorism. Harris, R-Longboat Key, said explosives were found in the suspect's home in Carmel, Ind.
Her comments made news on television stations in Indianapolis, where no record of such a plot had been reported.
"We asked ourselves how this could have happened and no one here have been aware of it," said Earl Morgan, director of the Indiana Counter-Terrorism and Security Council.
"The answer from law enforcement across the board, including the FBI, is that no such evidence exists," Morgan said. "Trust me, if there was such a threat, we would know about it. It didn't happen."
Harris' claims were an item of discussion at the regularly scheduled Indiana Security Council meeting Wednesday morning in Indianapolis. The council, which works with the Department of Homeland Security on local terrorism threats, is chaired by Indiana Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis. A representative from the FBI also attended the meeting.
Asked if he would contact Harris to tell her the findings, Morgan replied: "As far as I'm concerned, she will have to deal with this herself in terms of how she plans to respond to media questions. We've moved on to bigger and better things."
Jonathan Swain, a spokesman for Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, a Democrat, said the governor would not comment on Harris' claim.
"All of us are a bit confused by what she said," Swain said. "We're comfortable there is no record of this occurring."
In an interview Tuesday, Harris, who recently visited Indiana, said she learned of the plot "second-hand" from a mayor. She would not identify the mayor or provide other details about the case.
Responding to the flap, Harris said in a news release Wednesday: "The story I shared Monday night with my supporters in Venice illustrated the need for each of us to remain alert and vigilant in fighting terrorism before it has a chance to strike any other American community.
"This example was meant to remind this community as to the success of individual awareness and involvement as our nation's first and best line of defense."
Harris added: "I was told in an open, group setting that a recent situation threatened a Midwestern community and that it had been diffused. I regret that I had no knowledge of the sensitive nature of this situation and any undue concern this may have caused."
She concluded: "However, the lesson from 9/11 is that we must take any report of terrorist activity, any potential account, seriously."
Harris' statement at the Monday night meeting continued to be fodder for her Democratic opponents in Florida's 13th Congressional District.
On Wednesday, Christine Jennings issued a statement: "Winning the war on terror is a priority, but it seems Harris is more concerned about scoring political points. How else can you explain a sitting representative to be so reckless with the facts or possibly releasing publicly classified materials?"
Jennings added: "The statements made at a political event were clearly intended to rally support for Harris using the important issue of Homeland Security.
"It's sad that Katherine views homeland security as an issue to gain re-election, not as an issue important to protecting our citizens."
As the media blitz continues, the agitprop begins to have the desired effect and gains a life of its own. Soon, the naïve sheeple who read the daily stream of disinformation from the NY Times (and it’s wholly-owned subsidiaries like the SHT) and foolishly consider themselves “informed” start jumping into the fray. Examples of this can be found in two letters printed in the SHT just this morning.
Too bad Ms. Harris isn’t a democrat – then she would have been given a free pass.
Don't make a big deal out of this. The voters won't.
Someone posted this yesterday on FR.
Carmel firm shoulders blackout blame
Task force faults problems with FirstEnergy in Ohio and lack of response by two grid monitors, including Midwest ISO.
By Jon Murray
jon.murray@indystar.com
November 19, 2003
A U.S.-Canadian task force today placed much of the blame for last summer's massive power outage on a Carmel electrical grid monitor that oversees the area where the blackout began.
Midwest Independent System Operator, a private company that acts as a power grid traffic cop, failed to detect power lines that went out Aug. 14 in FirstEnergy's northern Ohio coverage area. Blind spots in Midwest ISO's monitoring system and a lack of communication with the utility and another grid monitor contributed to a cascade of power failures that followed, the task force's report says.
"This blackout was largely preventable," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said at a press conference this afternoon. "However, once the problem grew to a certain magnitude, nothing could have been done to prevent it from cascading out of control."
Midwest ISO, FirstEnergy and PJM Interconnection -- another monitor that oversees the northeastern United States, including parts of Ohio -- realized there was a problem too late, according to the report.
The resulting blackout spread north into Michigan and Canada and as far east as New York. As many as 50 million customers were affected for as little as a few hours and as long as a week. Though some southern Indiana customers had lost power earlier in the day, the late-afternoon blackout missed the state.
James P. Torgerson, Midwest ISO's president and chief executive officer, was not available for comment today but issued a statement.
The grid monitor "has worked to refine and implement a series of reliability tools and enhancements," the statement said. It also outlined steps Midwest ISO has taken to upgrade monitoring systems and clarify its responsibilities.
The task force identified three main causes for power loss:
FirstEnergy was unaware of problems in its own system, including malfunctioning alarms.
The utility allowed trees to grow too close to its transmission lines, which caused three of them to fail when stagnant winds on Aug. 14 caused them to droop.
Finally, the two grid monitors failed to detect problems and communicate well enough with FirstEnergy and each other.
Midwest ISO is a private company organized by dozens of utilities and electricity transmission companies in more than a dozen states. Because it started monitoring the power grid less than two years ago, it lacks much of the authority of its counterparts in other regions.
Earlier this month, a Michigan utilities commission criticized Midwest ISO in a report that focused on that state's role in the blackout.
The report ends months of interviews and analysis of data by the task force, which was chaired by Abraham and Herb Dhaliwal, the Canadian minister of natural resources. It pinpoints events earlier in the day that caused the blackout.
The task force will produce a final report by early next year that makes recommendations to prevent future large blackouts.
Big surprise.
if the paper actually reported what she said accurately, and there was in fact no basis to the story...she's and idiot.
Too bad one ours got caught, and I wish they'ed go after the dems with equal fervor, but she's still an idiot.
She should stuff classified documents in her socks next time. That's the ticket to absolution.
I was at this event, and I can personally testify that the reporter who was at the "Party for the President" three night ago was there incognito -- if I hadn't recognized him, his presence would have gone unannounced. He stayed until Harris finished, and then immediately left. It was quite plain he was on a fishing expedition, and caught something.
Whethere it's a keeper or not has yet to be determined. Unless you're the attack media, that is -- then it's judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one.
I posted this response on another thread, and I'm gonna post it here in the context of your excellent point:
Questioned Wednesday, Harris’ office issued a statement in which the congresswoman said, “I regret that I had no knowledge of the sensitive nature of this situation.” But Harris stood by her comments to the newspaper that the United States has thwarted potential attacks in the last three years, which she said was based on classified information. “Actually, it’s been more than 100,” she told the newspaper. “It’s classified ... obviously not classified to me ... but thing I can’t go into details about.”
I condemn Harris for blurting out classified info. However, this raises an extremely interesting point. Leading Dems, including Kerry, are claiming that Bush is failing at protecting this country from terror attacks. But they have access to the same intel that Harris was citing here. So they are LYING in public to make political points - they KNOW that we have thwarted many terror attempts - which is FAR more despicable than what Harris did.
If we see a Dem condemn Harris for revealing this info, and that Dem has in the recent past attacked the Bush record on fighting terrorism, we need to absolutely clobber them with the contradiction.
She's a rookie
She got set-up.
The inability to tell reality from your imagination is not a small matter.
So9
fair enough- and I've never had to deal with people recording every statement I make for analysis and criticism. But it is kind of a bone-head move to make statements about incidents of this sort without having rock solid confirmation.
and thegist of the original responder's comment about bias was right- the same reporter would proably have passed over sheila jackson lee's question about the mars rovers being able to see the lunar landers...
idiot?? maybe, maybe not, time will tell.
Maybe she nor really dumb,she just spoke off the cuff...as perhaps I did in my characterization of her.
While I think she blundered, it wasn't polite (nor especially smart) for me to call her an idiot based on that one incident.
mea culpa.
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