Lawmaker: Database Of Critical Sites "A Joke"

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's effort to create a national database of potential terrorist targets such as dams, pipelines, chemical plants and skyscrapers is far behind schedule and may take years to finish. Members of Congress who have seen parts of the classified list being created by the Department of Homeland Security say it's a haphazard compilation that includes water parks and miniature golf courses but omits some major sites in need of security.

"Their list is a joke," said Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He called it "an exercise in full employment for bureaucrats, rather than a realistic way to make the country safer."

The department began collecting data a year ago under orders from President Bush. Noting that an attack on one sector can have cascading consequences for the economy and public safety, Bush instructed the department to develop a database of sites and set priorities to protect them.

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Robert Liscouski, in charge of infrastructure protection at the Homeland Security department, said officials have set up a database of more than 80,000 sites. It's being kept secret so potential attackers cannot learn more about the nation's vulnerabilities. After a briefing Tuesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., criticized the effort. "I honestly don't know what they've been doing over there," she said. "I think you could take the average mayor or member of Congress and give them a month, and they would come up with a better list." Michael O'Hanlon, a homeland security expert at the Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank, said the project so far amounts to "a stapling exercise."

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http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20041209/topstories/46218.shtml

great reply

Failing upward, the bush policy.

Classified Top Secret used with our nuclear war computers. Give me a point of a nuclear blast, I could tell you everything in a 50 mile circle. :smoke: