Replies

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050811-115249-9462r.htm
"Special operations forces eye terrorists"
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 12, 2005

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "U.S. Special Operations Command has drafted a war plan that sets up procedures for how its commandos will work with other regional commands across the globe to hunt for senior Islamic terrorists.

The complex plan from SoCom in Tampa, Fla., has been in the works since summer 2002, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a secret directive authorizing it. His memo directed SoCom to come up with a plan for dispatching special operations forces on quick notice to virtually any spot in the world to kill or capture terrorists."

http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/kouri/2005/08/are-there-enough-first-responders.html

Jim Kouri is Vice President of the
National Association of Chiefs of Police

Friday, August 12, 2005

"Are There Enough First Responders?"
by Jim Kouri, CPP

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "America's first line of defense in any terrorist attack is the "first responder" community -- local police, firefighters, and emergency medical professionals. Properly trained and equipped first responders have the greatest potential to save lives and limit casualties after a terrorist attack. Currently, capabilities for responding to a terrorist attack vary widely across the country. Many areas have little or no capability to respond to terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction. Even the best prepared states and localities do not possess adequate resources to respond to the full range of terrorist threats we face.

There are over 1 million firefighters in the United States, of which approximately 750,000 are volunteers. Local police departments have an estimated 556,000 full-time employees including about 436,000 sworn enforcement personnel. Sheriffs' offices reported about 291,000 full-time employees, including about 186,000 sworn personnel. There are over 155,000 nationally registered emergency medical technicians(EMT).

Terrorists can strike anytime, anywhere. Crop dusters, power generating plants, dams and reservoirs, crops, livestock, trains and highways are among the resources that could be targets. Homeland security in the heartland is just as important as homeland security in America's largest cities."

"FBI Warns Police of Possible Terror Attack"

Noting the speculation whether or not they are specifying gasoline or propane/natural gas tankers. I would be more concerned about propane/natural gas because they are pressurized and more explosive in content than gasoline. Two phase explosion - first to rupture the tank to allow gas to escape, second to ignite.