Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A $400,000 study under way to identify where terrorists might strike in Nevada will include an assessment of Las Vegas tourism corridors.
James Sudderth of the Institute of Security Studies at UNLV said Wednesday that the study was "wheels up" and should be completed in January.
Sudderth outlined plans for the study to the finance committee of the Nevada Commission on Homeland Security, saying every county will be visited and the most vulnerable sites will be put on a priority list.
Clark County Sheriff Bill Young said the FBI and Metro Police have already done individual assessments on physical plants, such as utilities, but Young, a member of the finance committee, said he wants to make sure the tourism corridor in Las Vegas is examined.
"One of the things we are looking for as a commission is an overall picture of the state and our vulnerabilities as it relates to perhaps industry or sector," Young said. I want to make sure we are not just going out and looking at buildings.
"I know the Bellagio is a big building, and it has some good features and it has some bad features.
"The Convention Center, we have 150,000 to 200,000 people around that building in a two- or three-day period."
Young said the study should examine whether the anti-terrorist funds from the federal government should be put into protecting the tourism area in Southern Nevada and should examine the vulnerability of mass transportation and medical services.
Sudderth, who heads the study that started Aug. 1, said it will not look at individual buildings.
"Our intent is to do some comprehensive ones on what we believe are really high priority targets for Las Vegas and it may be the entire tourism corridor." He said the study will examine economic impacts if particular targets are hit. Sudderth said the study will be presented to the Homeland Security Commission in January. There will be an open session for a summary and then a closed meeting, he said.
"We are identifying vulnerabilities and that is something obviously we need to protect" sensitive information.
The study group will visit each county and seven Indian reservations to make its assessment of the high-risk targets. Sudderth said it will leave its information with the counties.
Bob Hatfield, chairman of the finance committee, suggested that information going to the counties be confidential.
"This is sensitive information," Hatfield said. "We don't want it shared with people who don't need to have it."
Glade Myler, counsel to the Homeland Security Commission, said Gov. Kenny Guinn could declare this information confidential.
Keith Munro, legal counsel to the governor, said he would work with Homeland Security officials to determine what information the governor would declare to be confidential.
Sudderth said many assessments have already been done on what projects are vulnerable and the study group will use those studies. Based on the findings, Homeland Security will allocate its federal grant to the projects high on the list.
The commission has $28.3 million in federal money this fiscal year, but Chief Frank Siracusa and Deputy Chief Kamala Carmazzi told the finance committee they did not know how much they will receive in the next fiscal year that starts in October.
Carmazzi said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., have introduced legislation to make sure tourism is considered when disbursing the money.
Carmazzi said that more than 80 percent of the money goes to local governments.
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