Terror Information Quagmire

Ever wonder what kind of web-based sources of information can trigger an alert? These days everything appears to be on a hair-trigger, probably because public officials are afraid of being caught with their pants down if an independent alert just happens to get it right.

A recent example involves a Jerusalem-based website, Debka.com which Associated Press cites as the source of heightened security in New York City. The warning issued by Debka, allegedly based upon intercepted al Qaida messages, predicted a possible dirty bomb attack, against New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami.

Debka is self-reporting the reaction to the online report:

New York scales down extra security measures a day after responding to al Qaeda radiological threat reported in DEBKAfile

August 12, 2007, 8:48 AM (GMT+02:00) New York police reduced the extra security procedures that were introduced Friday night, Aug. 10, after DEBKAfile reported a surge in on al Qaeda Websites threatening New York, Los Angeles and Miami with dirty bomb attack by trucks carrying radioactive bombs.

The three cities identified as potential targets by Debka are among the list of likely port city targets for a nuclear terrorist incident; we'd add the San Francisco area, Seattle, and San Diego on the west coast to the top of the list. According to author Jon Ronson, remote viewer Angela Thompson warned of mushroom clouds over Denver, Seattle, and Florida. Coastal cities with major sea ports would be likely targets for a terrorist nuclear attack, as was recently emphasized by the July appearance of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff at the Port of Los Angeles.

Chertoff appeared at a firestation near the port of Los Angeles, which is adjacent to the port of Long Beach, the subject of a RAND study on the use of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Just weeks before the Chertoff visit, a privately-sourced psychic warning had identified the port of Long Beach as a possible target of a 'loose nuke' but the 'remote-viewed' data suggested that it was the RAND report that had been picked up and not a real threat. The remote viewed information identified an 'executive' and a fire station near the port of Long Beach (Chertoff appeared at a fire station in the nearby port of Los Angeles) and the yield and effects of the possible attack closely matched the RAND study.

If any of this has you questioning the ability of government officials to thwart a real attack, we'd like to point out that Chertoff "unveiled a new strategy for the rapid resumption of trade after a terrorist attack at a major U.S. port."