Columnist Jeff German: Ensuring the safety of Las Vegas

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

The Justice Department is working to patch the crack in the line of defense against terrorism in Las Vegas.

But Sheriff Bill Young is taking no chances.

Still miffed at federal prosecutors in Detroit for not telling him about a potential terrorist threat here, Young recently sent an intelligence detective to the Motor City to monitor the trial that revealed the threat.

"I sent him there to hear first-hand what's going on rather than reading about it in the newspaper," Young said Monday.

Given the way the threat was revealed to local lawmen, you can hardly blame the sheriff for wanting his own man in Detroit for the duration of the well-publicized trial.

The star government witness in the case, Youssef Hmimssa, testified two weeks ago that the four defendants, who are accused of operating a terrorist sleeper cell, had talked about targeting Las Vegas prior to their post-Sept. 11, 2001, arrests.

In the words of Hmimssa, the defendants wanted to "destroy" Sin City.

Of course that was news to Young and Las Vegas FBI agents, who had been insisting since Sept. 11 that there was never any serious threat to Las Vegas.

Just like that, local authorities lost credibility on the most important subject you can think of -- the safety of the community.

Young's public display of anger over being left out of the loop made its way back to the Justice Department in Washington, which now is said to be conducting an internal investigation into the communications breakdown.

And Young said he received a telephone call last week from a high-ranking FBI official in Washington promising the problem would be corrected.

But even as that happened, Attorney General John Ashcroft compounded local fears about the Detroit testimony when he defended Hmimssa's credibility during a news conference in Washington.

Defense lawyers in the Detroit trial have suggested that Hmimssa turned government witness to save his own skin. But Ashcroft said Hmimssa was a "critical tool" in the government's war on terrorism and that his testimony was of "substantial value."

If that's true, then it's not only irresponsible, but also inexcusable to have withheld Hmimssa's information from Las Vegas authorities.

Had Detroit prosecutors given Young and company some warning in advance of the trial, local lawmen might not have been so quick to say there was never any threat here.

Local authorities also would have been better prepared to reassure Las Vegans that the threat coming out of Detroit had passed.

If the Justice Department really wants to patch things up, it will apologize to local lawmen, including its own FBI agents, who have been working so hard to protect this community from terrorists.

But more importantly, it will put checks and balances in place to make sure that the lines of communication stay open in the future.

Too much is at stake to allow another crack in the line of defense.