There's an interesting page one story in Sunday's Houston Chronicle about the work of a Houston-based anti-terrorism task force. We are at risk: "It is the only area in the U.S. with critical infrastructure in all risk categories."
Houston is considered one of eight U.S. cities most vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack because of:• A porous Gulf of Mexico coastline and border with Mexico
• A petrochemical industry that holds the military's contract for fuel and supplies 50 percent of the nation's gasoline
• The Texas Medical Center
• NASA's Johnson Space Center
• A nuclear power plant in Bay City
• One of the nation's largest ports
• An international airport named for former President Bush, making it a symbolic target
• More foreign consulates (60) than any city other than New York and Washington, D.C.
Apparently Houston's task force actually dates back to 1993 and has had no lack of threats to investigate.
"We've followed thousands of leads. We get them daily," said Richard Powers, the FBI agent in charge of Houston's Joint Terrorism Task Force. "Ninety-nine percent turn out to be invalid, but I believe we have also prevented things."Two floors of the FBI headquarters in Houston are devoted to task force operations, giving members a round-the-clock base where they can access secure telephones and computers.
The Houston task force comprises 100 members from 40 agencies. They include FBI agents, a police officer from Baytown and a detective from Texas A&M University. All are subject to background checks and are given top-secret clearance. They spend the bulk of their time following tips but also network with other intelligence sources.
"They see the most sensitive secrets we have," Powers said, "like a fire hose of intelligence."
A sidebar story has some details on four particular cases handled in recent months.
Sounds like the task force is doing its job -- I wish we could be more confident given the previous reports of lax access control at some of those critical local facilities.
Posted by Alan at April 4, 2004 09:55 AM