Thursday, June 3, 2004 | 10:02 a.m.
The former director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, while giving a speech in support of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to Las Vegas first responders, said that Las Vegas is a natural target for terrorists.
Michael Vatis, who ran the FBI task force from 1998 to 2001 and is now a homeland security adviser for the Kerry campaign, said that Las Vegas is an attractive target to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
"Las Vegas will always be a potential target," Vatis said. "It is high on the list of possible targets because it has all the things that Al-Qaida and other organizations look for.
"Just look at what we know about terrorists. We know they are keen on getting media attention because it magnifies the terror and Las Vegas is known worldwide. We know they have a fundamental disagreement with our notion of freedom and see Las Vegas as a symbol of Western corruption."
Vatis, who spoke at the International Association of Firefighters union hall, near Charleston and Jones boulevards, added that Hoover Dam, nearby military bases and power plants could make the region around Southern Nevada an even more attractive target.
Five of the terrorists involved in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, spent time in Las Vegas during the summer before the attacks. Vatis said that could be another reason that Las Vegas is often mentioned with New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as a possible target.
"We know that when they miss a target they like to come back and finish what they started," Vatis said. "In 1993 they failed at the the World Trade Center and they came back.
"I don't have any information that any attacks are being planned against Las Vegas, but it stands to reason that Las Vegas would naturally be a target."
Vatis, who also served in the Clinton administration from 1994 to 1998 as a deputy attorney general and deputy director of the Executive Office for National Security, said that Las Vegas as a possible target definitely is talked about in Washington, D.C.
Sheriff Bill Young said that the talk of Las Vegas as a target is nothing new.
"I'd say we're one of a half dozen cities that are always mentioned as targets," Young said. "It's not any secret that this is America's place to play."
Vatis, who said he no longer has access to classified materials and only sees public information that everyone has access to, was in Las Vegas Wednesday to talk to first responders about Kerry's homeland security plans.
The Kerry campaign made a push Wednesday on homeland security issues, saying that local agencies haven't gotten enough money or information for homeland security.
Vatis said that Kerry's priorities are to make funding avaliable for more police officers and equipment, protect overtime pay for first responders and improve the flow of information between all levels of law enforcement and the American people.
"There is no way to protect every possible target from every kind of attack, and that's why it is so important to have intelligence and to share that information with the people on the front lines," Vatis said.
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