Terrorism data still not made public

Thursday, May 25, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.

A month after receiving a taxpayer-funded study showing Nevada's vulnerability to terrorists, Gov. Kenny Guinn and state homeland security officials have yet to make any portions public, despite promises to do so.

Officials said the Nevada Commission on Homeland Security would decide what to release at its next meeting, but as of Wednesday, one had not been scheduled.

Giles Vanderhoof, homeland security adviser to Guinn, said he expected a meeting to occur in June.

"We're working right now to try to address this at the next meeting," he said. "The governor has told us to get this information out as quickly as possible."

The $500,000 study, prepared by the UNLV Research Foundation and its Institute for Security Studies, identifies the top threats facing the city and the rest of the state.

Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, questioned why authorities were being slow to release portions of the study.

"The longer it takes to release public documents, the more it makes people wonder what's in them," he said.

Members of the Homeland Security Commission received the study at an April 26 meeting and, after reviewing it behind closed doors for two hours, decided to consult with Guinn before making any parts of it public. Guinn had signed an executive order in September declaring the study confidential.

But both the governor and Dale Carrison, the commission's chairman, have said they want to release the portions of the study that do not undermine the state's security.

The study concludes that Las Vegas, with its multibillion-dollar tourism industry, is a likely target for international terrorism.

The study also details serious flaws in the state's ability to take countermeasures against terrorists, as well as shortcomings in its response to a mass emergency resulting from an attack.

Recommendations are made to improve intelligence sharing, emergency communications systems, evacuation plans and gaps in large-scale medical care.

The study was funded by the federal Homeland Security Department.

Vanderhoof said Homeland Security officials in Washington told him that Nevada may learn as early as next Wednesday how much it would receive of the $52 million in federal funding that the state requested in anti-terrorism funds for the coming fiscal year.

If that news comes by the end of the month, Vanderhoof said, it would provide more incentive to schedule a meeting as soon as possible .

Carrison could not be reached for comment Wednesday.