Editorial: Protecting ice cream

Sunday, July 16, 2006 | 7:50 a.m.

Federal database shows outrageous inconsistencies in what constitutes a terrorist target

A Homeland Security Department inspector general's report shows that a petting zoo, a kangaroo conservation center and an event called "Bean Fest" are among thousands of potential terrorist targets listed in the agency's database.

Most Americans would be dishonest if they said they found absolutely no humor in the report released Tuesday that shows Homeland Security officials considered terrorist attacks possible on Alabama's Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo or a tiny popcorn operation in Indiana's bucolic Amish country.

The inspector general's report questioned the inclusion of such "unusual or out-of-place sites" as a tackle shop and a "beach at end of a street."

But it's not funny to the proprietors of such businesses, who say that inclusion in the National Asset Database is inappropriate and bad for business. And it certainly isn't getting a lot of laughs from officials in places, such as Las Vegas, that were overlooked by Homeland Security officials - some of which will not be receiving as much, or any, extra federal security funding for anti-terrorism measures.

It is inconceivable that Las Vegas - a world-renowned city with 1.7 million people, an Air Force base and a stretch of multibillion-dollar resorts that can attract 300,000 visitors on a weekend - was dropped this year from the department's list of urban areas in most need of funding.

Homeland Security officials have said the auditors misunderstood the purpose of the database, but conceded that states may need more concise parameters for logging landmarks and sites of significance. Until then, the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill., is likely to remain a potential terrorist hot spot - at least in the minds of Homeland Security officials.