Friday, Nov. 5, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.
An Islamic Web site points out that the state of Nevada Web site includes information about routes that nuclear waste might take to Yucca Mountain, according to an unclassified FBI threat assessment released to the Nevada Homeland Security Commission and the public last week.
KLAS Channel 8 Thursday night highlighted that a state site includes a report about how terrorists could target nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain as "dirty bombs." That information is part of Nevada's argument against the proposed nuclear waste repository.
FBI officials say plenty of possible security threats can be found on the Internet.
Daniel DeSimone, FBI supervisory special agent for the Nevada Regional Intelligence Center, showed commissioners a six-inch stack of information about federal buildings, monuments and other possible targets all pulled from various Internet sites.
"There is information out there that anyone can get," DeSimone said, adding that Web sites for military entities, such as U.S. Northern Command, in charge of homeland defense, provide some of the information.
Adjutant Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, the commander of the Nevada National Guard and state homeland security adviser, said that there has to be a balance between a free society and security concerns.
"We can't let ourselves become so security crazy that we diminish our freedoms because that's what we love about this country," Vanderhoof said. "We want to keep things as safe as possible, but we don't want to turn into a police state."
Vanderhoof said he is very aware of the amount of information available on the Internet, but said that routes for nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain are not something that could be easily hidden.
"There are several ways for the waste to get here if Yucca Mountain happens, but most of the routes are pretty obvious," Vanderhoof said. "If Yucca Mountain happens I think we'll see some different security measures in place, maybe varying the times of shipments."
Special Agent Todd Palmer, spokesman for the Las Vegas office of the FBI, said that agents do look at what is on the Internet, but added that there are massive amounts of information available on the web.
Dr. Dale Carrison, chairman of the state homeland security commission, agreed that the information is out there, and said that the focus needs to be on protecting the details of security plans.
"You could probably go on the Internet and print out a 1,000-page packet that details how every hotel in town was built," Carrison said. "It's the age-old conflict that if you are going to have a democracy you are going to give up some security.
"People need to know that we have security plans in place, to test drinking water for example. They need to know that we are testing it, but its the details about how we are going about it that need to stay secret."
Vanderhoof said that there is a classified level of information that he sees that details how different terrorist targets in Nevada are being protected that is kept out of public view.
Still, floor plans and layouts of Las Vegas hotel-casinos and convention centers, as well as the route of the Las Vegas Monorail can all be found online.
Even the FBI's threat assessment lists several possible terrorist targets and how effective an attack on these targets would be.
The assessment notes that the Las Vegas Strip, Hoover Dam, the state capital in Carson City, the Fallon Naval Air Station, the U.S. Army's ammunition dump in Hawthorne and mining sites are all considered to be areas of concern by the FBI.
The intersection of U.S. 95 and Interstate 15, also known as the Spaghetti Bowl, the I-15 corridor between Las Vegas and Southern California and the Las Vegas Monorail are also noted as possible targets.
"Any attack on either of these highway systems would paralyze Southern Nevada by shutting off the major routes of transportation," the assessment states about I-15 and U.S. 95. "This would in turn affect surrounding states including California, Arizona and Utah."
Palmer said the classified version of the assessment continues other details, including investigative methods and sources that are kept secret.
Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said that there is a delicate balancing between the public's right to know and security concerns.
"We are advocates for open government and the flow of information, because bringing sunshine to how government works is essential to a democracy," Peck said. "In this post 9/11 world that has to be balanced with security concerns."
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