Senators seek help in getting anti-terrorism site at NTS

Mathis Winkler

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 9:58 a.m.

Nevada's U.S. senators are asking businesses to help them bring a national counterterrorism training center to the Nevada Test Site.

Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. John Ensign say they need help in convincing the government that the 1,375-square-mile site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas is the best location in the country for such an operation.

During a Counter Terrorism Summit Monday in Henderson, the senators asked Bechtel Nevada, the company that has operations at the Test Site, to join them in making a case for the training center.

"We need a major company like Bechtel coming out and trying to help us with this," said Reid, who last week proposed to President Bush a national training center at the Test Site.

Turning to Fred Tarantino, the company's general manager and a summit panelist, Reid said, "Fred, you need to take a message to your company that we need some help with that."

Ensign quickly seconded the call for help.

"There are many places around the country that would want" the training center, Ensign said. "Just for us to do this politically is very hard to do."

Tarantino said his company would support the senators.

"We're very anxious to help," he said. "A public, private partnership is certainly something we're anxious to assist in."

Tessa Hafen, a spokeswoman for Reid, said today that the senator hopes the company will provide financial support as well as management expertise to run a center. Ensign could not be reached for comment.

Reid and Ensign also used the three-hour-long meeting to obtain information about Nevada's ability to react to a terrorist attack. Reid called the meeting after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The senators heard from local and federal law enforcement officials, medical and emergency response officials, who said that Nevada is well prepared to deal with an attack.

"Nowhere else exists a network of public safety that exists here in Nevada," Sheriff Jerry Keller said.

But while applauding the cooperation between local agencies, Keller said he was concerned that federal officials had not asked local authorities for advice on combatting terrorism in nation's largest cities.

"I thought they should include the Major Cities Chiefs (Association) as a source" for advice, said Keller, who serves as the association's president. The organization includes police chiefs for the country's 52 largest metropolitan areas.

"We certainly have expertise in (fighting) criminal behavior, which is what (terrorism) really is," Keller said.