http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37920,00.html Army Battle-Ready for Convention by Declan McCullagh ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 8:40 a.m. Aug. 1, 2000 PDT PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. Army is prepared to respond to disruptions ranging from civil disobedience to nuclear explosions at the Republican National Convention, a confidential government document says. The terrorism response plan includes flying giant C-5 Galaxy cargo planes loaded with military gear into Willow Grove Naval Air Station, about 25 miles outside the city, and assembling troops at three National Guard armories near the downtown protest areas. "Preparedness for nuclear, biological, chemical, and civil disturbance events, as well as potential weather-related disaster events, must be considered," says the Federal Emergency Management Agency document, obtained by Wired News from a source who asked to remain anonymous. A FEMA spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the document, but said he did not have any information that a terrorist attack was likely to happen during the GOP convention. "We try to plan for any event like this as we would plan for a hurricane," said Ross Fredenburg, FEMA's regional public information officer. The 75-page operations manual, labeled on each page "For Official Use Only," says: "There is a greater probability that an act occurring during the RNC could result in high-risk situations and possibly necessitate a tactical response by the local, state, and federal governments." Security is already at an all-time high for a convention, with flight restrictions in place over central Philadelphia, nearly all city police on duty, and guards equipped with mirrors searching for bombs under vehicles that approach the First Union Center. The document, created by FEMA to supplement its usual procedures, says that the U.S. First Army will, if necessary, execute Operation Garden Plot to quell any serious civil disturbances. Operation Garden Plot has long been an object of speculation by conspiracy theorists, but the watchdog group Federation of American Scientists describes it as the military's overall plan for "support related to domestic civil disturbances" that was last used during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. Critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union have protested the recent trend to use military troops for law enforcement purposes. The FEMA plan even goes so far as to spend 12 pages listing hospitals and numbers of licensed beds -- including places as far away as St. Luke's Hospital in Quakertown, a 40-mile drive. [...]
