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Terror Groups Download From State Website
Source: Klastv.com | 8:44:22 PM EST

(Nov. 4) -- Why would a website operated by the State of Nevada be of great interest to some of the worlds most notorious terrorist organizations? Critics think it's because the website is a great source of information for anyone who might want to explode a dirty bomb in our state, one that could spread radioactivity over a large area.

Why would our state make such information available to terrorists? The state's original motives were noble enough. In an effort to stop the Yucca Mountain project, Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency commissioned a study about how terrorists might attack shipments of nuclear waste and turn those shipments into dirty bombs that could kill thousands. The problem is, the report is viewed by many as a how-to manual for terrorists. And, as the I-Team has learned, the terrorists are paying attention.

Robert Harter says, "We think al Qaeda as living in caves in Afghanistan." Not all terrorists are cave-bound vagabonds on the run. Many of the largest organizations have their own websites, used to communicate with each other and to spread propaganda and inflame the Muslim world.

Las Vegan Robert Harter, not his real name, is part of an international coalition of web-savvy volunteers who hunt down and disable terrorist websites. About 18 months ago, during one of these online search and destroy missions against a website for the infamous Hamas organization, Harter and his associates noticed something curious -- a link to the State of Nevada's official website.

Robert Harter said, "You see the State of Nevada website is sandwiched between details on Israeli armaments, a Japanese site about Claymore land mines, hand grenades, rifles and links to other jihads."

A website, with its heroic portraits of Osama bin Laden; also has a link to the Nevada report. Another site that calls for jihad against the U.S. and Israel has the same link. Why do Islamic terrorists care about Nevada? It's because of this report, paid for by the State of Nevada in 1997 and available online.

The report analyzes the risks of terrorist attacks on shipments of nuclear waste bound for Yucca Mountain. It describes what routes the waste shipments would take, the casks that would be used, how thick they are, and what weapons could be used to turn the casks into dirty bombs with more radioactivity than a military nuke. The report even spells out where and when terrorists could strike to cause the greatest number of deaths and gives hints on where to obtain shoulder-fired missiles and anti-tank weapons.

To critics, the report is a how-to manual for the bad guys. And they have proof that terrorists did, in fact, visit the state site, perhaps hundreds of times. Harter says, "If you see the Hamas website with a link to the Nevada website how to make a dirty bomb out of nuke waste, we could see conclusively the directory in which these documents resided were the most accessed directories for months running. So clearly the information was being consumed somewhere as far back as March of 2003."

Harter and others complained about the Nevada website. They sent emails to Nevada officials and contacted the Department of Homeland Security in Washington. The I-Team has learned that federal homeland security officials asked Nevada to take down the report last year.

The Las Vegas FBI expressed the same opinion to Jerry Bussell, who was then Nevada's Homeland Security chief. Reached by phone, Bussell declined comment, but law enforcement sources say Bussell lobbied his bosses to get the report off the Internet. Reportedly, the state thought the opposition to Yucca Mountain was more important and left it up.

Bob Loux heads Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency. He says he remembers hearing some chatter about the website, but that no one asked that the report be removed. "No one asked us to take it down and no one provided rationale for it."

Loux says Jerry Bussell might have mentioned the issue to him but that Bussell told him that homeland security in Washington had no problems with it. Has Loux changed his mind now that the report is on the al Qaeda website?

Obviously the world has changed since the attacks of 9-11, and governments like our state have to struggle with balancing security needs with the public's right to know. No one intended this information to fall into the hands of terrorists, but now that it's out there, what is the state doing about it?

Related links:
http://klastv.com/global/story.a

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