Terror center’s chances shrink

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons' plan to establish an anti-terrorism intelligence hub in Carson City, an idea opposed by law enforcement authorities who saw it as duplicating efforts in Las Vegas and Reno, is unlikely to get any state funding this year, legislative leaders said Tuesday.

The legislative committees that oversee the governor's budget, Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance, have decided against giving the governor more than $520,000 to staff an intelligence gathering center in Carson City.

Without the committees' approval, the proposal has little chance of making it out of the Legislature this year.

"Given the finances of this session, in all likelihood it's dead for this session," said Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, who is co-chairman of a joint budget subcommittee that this month refused to back the governor's proposal.

Gibbons, who also is seeking $1.7 million in federal money to pay for start up costs, wants the Carson City hub, or "fusion center," to serve as the state's main link with the Homeland Security Department and to oversee broader intelligence gathering operations about to open in Las Vegas and Reno.

But Parks, a ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, said Tuesday that the proposed Carson City hub would create an additional layer of communication for law enforcement officials that could impede their response during a crisis.

"It would duplicate activities already being undertaken by the other two centers," Parks said. "I have not heard testimony from anyone saying it's imperative or essential to have this third fusion center."

Law enforcement officials, including Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, say the Las Vegas fusion center, with its greater resources and strong ties to federal anti-terrorism officials, is in the best position to become the state's main intelligence hub in the war on terrorism.

Metro Police plan to open the Las Vegas operation in July and staff it with 61 Metro employees, including detectives and analysts. Representatives from other local, state and federal agencies also will be stationed at the high-tech Las Vegas center, being funded, along with the Reno facility, with $6.5 million in federal money.

Fusion centers are designed to remove information-sharing roadblocks and streamline intelligence gathering across jurisdictions so law enforcement authorities can more effectively detect potential acts of terrorism.

Gillespie first voiced his concerns about the Carson City hub during a May 3 meeting with Gibbons. The sheriff plans to again discuss the issue with the governor on June 15 in Carson City.

Last week, after meeting with Gillespie in Washington, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., publicly backed away from his support for Gibbons' efforts to obtain the $1.7 million in federal money for the Carson City center. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., shares Reid's view.

The U.S. senators' position effectively eliminated any chance the proposal had to secure money in the Legislature, state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said.

"Any sensible person can see that Las Vegas, not Carson City, is the more likely target, has the needed personnel and resources , and should be the state's primary fusion center," Titus said.

Larry Martines, the state's homeland security adviser and the governor's point man in the push for a Carson City hub, did not return phone calls Tuesday.