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StumbleHomeland Security cancels Strip nuclear response training
Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 | 11:52 a.m.
The Department of Homeland Security has canceled a Federal Emergency Management Agency training exercise that would have simulated the detonation of a nuclear device on the Las Vegas Strip.
Sen. Harry Reid’s office today confirmed the cancellation of the exercise for first responders that had been scheduled for May 2010. Reid and several Southern Nevada tourism and business leaders objected to the scenario, suggesting that it could create unnecessary anxiety to efforts to boost tourism and investment in Las Vegas.
“I thank the Department of Homeland Security for considering my letter to Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and reaching the decision to cancel this exercise so quickly,” Reid said in a statement issued this morning.
“At a time when Las Vegas is beginning to show signs of improvement, including the first increase in tourism in a year, an exercise of this magnitude would have created unnecessary anxiety and possibly undo our efforts to strengthen the engine of Nevada’s economy.”
Reid said he would work with Napolitano and FEMA to develop an opportunity for first responders to participate in another exercise.
A Nov. 19 letter to Napolitano from Reid was backed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association, the Nevada Development Authority and several chambers of commerce.
“I am deeply sympathetic to the need of our first responders to conduct preparedness training and I look forward to revisiting this issue when Nevada’s economy has improved,” Reid said in his letter to Napolitano.
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I don't know if this is good or bad.
(Like the terrorists care about Vegas tourism....I'm surprised nothing has happened YET!!)
How do you simulate a flattened major city properly? How do you treat people who have been disintigrated?
They should have had it coincide with one of the major implosions !.. missed opportunities..
Good questions, going bust. But I think it's more in response time, reporting time, etc. that they go by in this type of situation and I believe it would be the dirty bomb scenario or chemical weapon scenario where nothing is flattened, but toxins and radioactivity are released in teh air. (Hasn't NYC been prepared for this for years now??) In other words - can the fire department and other first responders, hotels, etc. have a good enough response time and what are their contingency plans with so many injured, dying or dead, what are they going to do to prevent massive death and/or injuries, especially the hotels.
I certainly would want to know, especially if I was a guest at let's say City Center, how things would be handled. CaN you imagine thousands of people totally panicking??? Thousands sickened with no help in sight? And a family member dies needlessly because Vegas and Sen. Reid cared more about tourism dollars than saving lives? But if they are afraid tourists would be freaked out by such an exercise, then what's going to happen if, God forbid, it DOES happen some day? They don't give the tourists enough common sense. I always said Vegas would be, and is, such an easy target. All you need is one or two hotels to be taken down and it would be catastrophic.
GREAT, so now instead our guests can have anxiety over our city being unprepared for a disaster situation. Another brilliant move by Reid's office.
I want to visit cities that are ready for this kind of situation, not stay away from them. Imagine how the economy would tank if something did happen here and we weren't ready for it.
Obviously a bad idea that would induce too much uncertainty and fear. I thought all the Bush people were fired from FEMA... ;^)
The impression that I came away with from this article is simply that the almighty dollar won once again at the expense of human safety and life.
No need for the exercise. By May 2010, a nuke detonation on the Strip may kill both tourists staying at Citycenter, but that's about all.
Obviously a bad idea that would induce too much uncertainty and fear. I thought all the Bush people were fired from FEMA... ;^)
Uncertainty and fear??? More like this is the way we live now. It's called being realistic.
FEMA? It's Homeland Security. If ANY city should be prepared, it is Las Vegas. Even one tiny attack would spell certain disaster for Las Vegas. How many times have we all spotted unattended luggage just sitting in a lobby of any hotel? It would be just sooooooo easy to bring that city to devestation.
If those damn terrorists didn't visit Vegas as much as they did - to gamble, drink and whore around - the city would have been toast by now. But there is a new breed of terrorist now - the ones who have blended into our society. Just watching and waiting....
Guess Vegas and TPTB think it will always be safe - just like it is recession-proof. I guess on 9/11 and afterwards - those of us from big cities like Chicago and LA know the danger and are always aware. From talking to people that I worked with in Vegas, 9/11 was terrible news story that day and everyone went on about their business. It didn't touch them as it did so many of us back east. No suicide jets were on their way to Vegas. As far as we know. They had no idea waht it was like working on the 47th floor of an office building in downtown Chicago and absolutely freaking out when a jet flew over before they grounded the planes - and that's right after we all "abandoned ship" and refused to work in a possible target.
If airport security wasn't what it is today (and that isn't saying too much but it's better than it was pre-9/11) - two big jumbo jets right into Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand might very well have happened already.
We are already being targeted. Every time the police are called to investigate a suspicious package, or abandoned suitcase, someone is watching. They are taking notes, studying our procedures. Planning.
Why do you think in the middle east, when one bomb goes off and injures a number of people, another goes off after emergency response folks arrive on scene.
They have studied the procedures of the police, emergency medical teams. Watched the actions of the uninjured responding to help the not so lucky.
Thanks Pinky. When the terrorists strike here, we'll remember how you shuffled off the alarm.
Terrorist attacks in America are designed to accomplish two goals: massive death counts and major economic impact.
I doubt Vegas scores high on either point. Tourism (head/death count) is way down; the economy took care of the second goal all on its own.
As to first responders and guest safety, I cannot speak for CCFD or LVMPD, but I am a bit familiar with the current casino security situation, which has never been too stellar or considered by casino bosses as anything more than a few warm bodies to keep the Gaming Commission happy.
Guests lives will depend on a small force of untrained, part time/on-call security officers, working with a turnover rate virtually guaranteeing unfamiliarity with property layout, emergency procedures or basic life support skills.
Layoffs have reduced full time experienced security to bare bones in many areas. Security has always been the redheaded stepchild in the minds of many casino administrators, reflected by security budgets, training, poor equipment and low staffing.
Sadly, if Vegas does get hit, FEMA may be as good as it gets for us.
Sadly, if Vegas does get hit, FEMA may be as good as it gets for us.
That could be very true. Las Vegas will be treated worse than New Orleans was after Katrina because TPTB cared more about tourism dollars than anyone's safety, including the locals who work on the Strip. There is, or was, no preparation in the event of a catastrophic event.
*****
I doubt Vegas scores high on either point. Tourism (head/death count) is way down; the economy took care of the second goal all on its own.
I don 't agree. Sure the LV economy stinks right now and will for a long time, but there are still a lot of tourists that visit Vegas and yes, the numbers may not be as high as say in NYC, but it would be so easy to inflict further damage to the Vegas economy AND kill and maim thousands of people - along with just putting "terror" in peoples' minds enough to scare them into not visiting Vegas. It is a mind game with the terrorists. They love the element of surprise.