Governor puts state back on high alert

Jeff German and Ed Koch

Monday, Oct. 8, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn ordered all state agencies Sunday to return to their highest state of alert in the aftermath of the American air strikes in Afghanistan.

"We're going to keep monitoring things very closely," Guinn said late Sunday in Las Vegas. "We are asking our people to be more vigilant about what's going on around them."

The state was last placed on high alert in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The governor's order came as the FBI asked law enforcement agencies across the country to be at their "highest level of vigilance and be prepared to respond to any act of terrorism or violence."

Guinn said Nevada's Emergency Operations Center in Carson City, which has a high-tech communications center, has been reopened and will stay in contact with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the state.

The White House, Guinn said, recently advised all governors that it expected the United States to be more vulnerable to an attack in the 72 hours following military action in Afghanistan.

The Department of Energy today stopped all shipments of nuclear materials in the United States, including shipments of low-level waste to the Nevada Test Site.

But the governor and Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign all said Sunday they heard of no threats here.

"There's certainly nothing in the state of Nevada that has come to our attention," Guinn said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said this morning he was advised that there were no threats to the city.

"I'm very comfortable. I think the Strip, though it's not in the city, is probably the safest street in America," he said.

Goodman said additional uniformed police officers are patrolling the Strip, and security forces at the casinos are on heightened alert.

At a joint news conference Sunday afternoon, Reid and Ensign said troops from Nellis Air Force Base and the Fallon Naval Air Station were deployed in the stepped-up war against terrorism.

Reid, a Democrat who serves as the Senate's assistant majority leader, and Ensign, a first-term Republican, said the commanders of both bases briefed them Sunday on the deployments, but the senators would not provide details for security reasons.

Nellis Air Force Base officials confirmed today that troops have been deployed, but declined to release further details, including what units have been deployed, how many airmen were dispatched and where they were sent.

The troops that most likely were -- and will be -- deployed from Nellis are its 11th and 15th reconnaissance units that fly the Predator unmanned aircraft and the 66th Combat Rescue helicopter unit. They function mainly as support groups.

Moments after the attack on Afghanistan, Nellis returned to Forced Protection Condition Charlie after a week at the lower Bravo security level, base spokesman Sgt.Charles Raimey said.

Charlie level is the second highest level of security behind Delta, where Nellis was placed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The base remained on Charlie alert today.

Nellis was quiet this morning, as many of the base personnel, both military and civilian, were off for Columbus Day. Only essential personnel were on duty, Raimey said.

A number of facilities were closed, including the base commissary and drug stores. The base exchange was on limited hours. The O'Callaghan Federal Hospital was open, Raimey said.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said today that while security at all county buildings was on heightened alert, there was no need to activate the Emergency Management Team.

"We are screening the entrances to county buildings and are in constant touch with Metro Police, the FBI and state agencies, but it has not been recommended to activate the Emergency Management Team, and we are not doing it at this time," Reilly said.

National Guard troops began patrolling McCarran International Airport over the weekend.

At Hoover Dam, one of the busiest tourist attractions in the state, officials still were allowing traffic to pass into Arizona.

But security remained tight and traffic delays were occurring.

Both Reid and Ensign praised the leadership of President Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and pledged their support in Sunday's retaliatory strikes in Afghanistan.

Ensign said he expected Sunday's attack to be the first of a wave of worldwide strikes against the terrorist organization run by Osama bin Laden and those supporting him.

"This is where we show our resolve to fight the evil in the world," Ensign said.

The two senators today held a counterterrorism summit as planned at the Paul Ruth Fire Training Facility in Henderson.

They told reporters this morning before the summit that Southern Nevada is better prepared than most communities in the nation to handle a terrorist attack.

Sheriff Jerry Keller and Grant Ashley, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, were among those called upon to give talks to the public.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., vice chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, issued a statement praising the military strikes against bin Laden and the Taliban regime.

"To rid the world of the threat of terrorism, a sustained and targeted military campaign will be necessary," Gibbons said. "Today's actions are only the first step in our effort to secure freedom and defend the United States."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she hopes the initiative in Afghanistan will be accomplished quickly.

"I am most anxious to get in do what we have to do and get out," she said.

Sun reporters Angela Soo, Diana Sahagun, Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove contributed to this report.