Editorial: Questions likely to linger

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has offered to answer "to a certain degree" questions from Nevada lawmakers who are skeptical about the reasons Las Vegas was left off the agency's list of U.S. cities most likely to be attacked by terrorists.

We share in our congressional delegation's skepticism. We, too, wonder how a region with 1.7 million residents and 300,000 tourists visiting every weekend managed to be dropped from the list of 35 cities most likely to be targeted by terrorists. Cities on the list are eligible for federal anti-terrorism funding.

Homeland Security officials have said they cannot disclose what information or what formula they used to analyze the risk of attacks because it might tip off terrorists. They did talk of 3.2 billion computer calculations, so we can probably assume the formula involved more than a handful of darts and a map.

But Chertoff has already emphasized that he will answer questions, but, previously noted, only "to a certain degree."

He also said Nevada lawmakers can provide additional information to justify why Las Vegas should be included on the list. Given that Chertoff is not likely to give up the secret terrorist-target formula, and that Nevada officials have given all the information they have, it's hard to figure out what else the Homeland Security Department needs to know.

Maybe Chertoff needs a field trip. He should meet with Nevada lawmakers in Las Vegas during a regular weekend and then tour the visitor-packed Strip. His guides can point out a few of the places visited by five of the hijackers who later participated in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

While he's down there, he'll likely see people from every city on his department's terrorism target list, along with visitors from hundreds of other towns and tens of thousands of residents who work to keep this popular desert destination ticking 24/7.

It won't hurt him a bit to take home a few mental images of the thousands upon thousands of people who would be affected by a single car bomb on the Las Vegas Strip any given Saturday night. Maybe then he'll understand that what happens here could affect the entire country.