Columnist Jeff German: Authorities lose sight of real enemy

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 10:51 a.m.

If you talk to local authorities battling terrorism, they'll tell you cooperation with their federal counterparts has improved dramatically over the past year.

There are still, however, remnants of infighting that have hindered past efforts to keep tabs on terrorists, which means the overall strategy for preventing a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks still has some kinks to work out.

The media hoopla this week over a year-old rift between law enforcement authorities in Detroit and Las Vegas is one such example.

What ignited the fire was an Associated Press report that Detroit federal authorities had warned Las Vegas officials in August 2002 about two videotapes suggesting terrorists had targeted the city, but the locals withheld that information from the public out of fear it would hurt tourism here.

The AP quoted from internal memos and e-mails, some of which came from a former Detroit federal prosecutor who has come under investigation for misconduct in a 2003 terrorism trial in Detroit. One of the videos, which was purported to be taken by suspected al-Qaida operatives casing Strip casinos, surfaced at the trial.

Las Vegas authorities, including FBI agents, privately condemned the report, saying it simply wasn't true. But because of a gag order slapped on the Detroit terrorism case, they were reluctant to comment publicly.

By late afternoon on Tuesday, however, Undersheriff Doug Gillespie, after doing some research within the police department and some huddling with the FBI, issued a statement that raised suspicion about the AP report.

Gillespie said police officers and FBI agents had thoroughly reviewed the videotapes in the fall of 2002, long before the trial, and had shown them to local casinos.

That was a pretty good indication that authorities here, contrary to the AP report, had taken the videotapes seriously.

Later, the gag order abruptly was lifted in Detroit so that Las Vegas FBI spokesman Dave Nanz could confirm on the record Gillespie's account of how the videotapes wound up in the hands of local officials.

Gillespie's explanation for not making the existence of the tapes public was that information gleaned from the videos never caused authorities to be concerned about a rise in the threat level here.

"I am confident that decisions made regarding the distribution of these videos were the right ones," Gillespie said.

We still don't have the entire story, but we shouldn't be surprised by the flare-up between Las Vegas and Detroit authorities.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Las Vegas has faced constant uncertainty over its status as a potential al-Qaida target.

We know Las Vegas, a symbol of decadence to the extremist Muslim world, has been on al-Qaida's radar. Five of the hijackers, including the pilots of the jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, visited the city in the weeks before the attacks.

Yet federal authorities in Washington have treated us like a stepchild when it comes to providing anti-terrorism funds to protect us. We have not gotten our fair share.

Local officials have told us over and over again that they have no credible evidence of a threat against this city.

Yet, during the holiday season, the nation's homeland security chief, without giving us any details, warned that we should take extra security precautions for our New Year's Eve celebration on the Strip.

Officially, we were told we weren't a target. But unofficially we were asked to act as though we were.

This is called schizophrenia.

It's a condition that can cause those entrusted with our safety to lose sight of our enemies.