http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2965765,00.html
Grand Prix of L.B. is a terrorist target? Official says 'no rhyme or reason' to some of 73 sites picked for extra security funding. By Troy Anderson and Lisa Friedman Staff writers WASHINGTON The federal Homeland Security Department's list of 73 Los Angeles County sites that will get specialized terrorism protection left local officials puzzled Thursday because it includes some low-priority targets and leaves off such high-profile potential targets as universities and hospitals. A copy of the list of sites that will receive part of $12.9 million in extra security funding for the state was obtained by the Los Angeles Daily News (a sister paper of the Press-Telegram) and reviewed by several officials. Stadiums, arenas and other entertainment venues made the list, but one official questioned why it also included the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Also, according to the list, the Fallbrook and Valencia malls qualified but not the Beverly Center. "There is no rhyme or reason to homeland security funding, nor homeland security awareness in Los Angeles," said Councilman Jack Weiss, a former federal prosecutor deeply involved in security issues. "Why should the Glendale Galleria qualify for something that the Beverly Center didn't qualify for? It just looks so scattershot, it's hard to believe there are federal standards." Federal and local officials would not discuss specifics of the list of county sites, deemed critical resources by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Some sites not on the list may be funded through other homeland security programs. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, for example, have received more than $27 million in security grants from the Transportation Security Administration since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. And Los Angeles International Airport has received more than $256 million to reimburse costs of installing permanent exposives- detection systems integrated with baggage conveyor systems. Still, local officials and terrorism experts questioned the rationale behind the compilation. "It certainly wasn't put together with California in mind," said Ed Broomfield, homeland security grants program manager for the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management. "I wouldn't say that any of them are not targets, but are they the most important targets? Quite a few of them are not," he said. "Just scrolling down the list, it looks like they only hit about 50 percent of them right on." Broomfield said he believes shopping malls and amusement parks could be potential targets, but he also questioned placing the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on the same list as Universal Studios, which police say they once found in an al-Qaida videotape. "That could be a target, but it's certainly not a top target," Broomfield said of the Grand Prix. "Also, the Valencia Town Center is not really high up there on the target list." Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, questioned why the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or major hospitals didn't make the cut. "I hope the department has a rational basis," he said. "It does seem somewhat arbitrary." Sites on the list will get grants under the new federal Buffer Zone Protection Program, which allots $50,000 per potential terrorist target. About $1.3 million went to the city of Los Angeles. Law enforcement agencies plan to use the money to purchase equipment ranging from metal detectors to surveillance cameras. While the Department of Homeland Security describes the program as focused largely on "chemical facilities, dams and nuclear plants," the grant application also makes commercial assets like shopping malls, arenas and theme parks eligible for funding. The agency does not in its public documents, however, clarify how those potential terrorist targets should be prioritized. Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Mark Leap, the assistant commanding officer of the agency's counterterrorism and criminal intelligence bureau, would not discuss specific sites but said his office was largely responsible for coming up with the list. Using a new system known as Operation Archangel which analyzes data to prioritize potential terrorist targets Leap called the list "a living thing." Leap said he could not speak about why one shopping mall, for example, may be on the list and not another. But he noted that the list could easily change based on threats and new intelligence. "It may expand or contract based on a number of factors," he said. "To look at a list that was prepared yesterday, it may be out of date by this morning." Both Leap and LAPD's counterterrorism chief, John Miller, acknowledged that a larger list of 605 critical sites created in the weeks and months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was subjective and often differed inexplicably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. They described Operation Archangel as a way of narrowing down that list based on objective criteria. Some of the criteria, involving intelligence, is secret while some, like population levels or the level at which a potential attack would hurt a particular economic sector, are more obvious. "It's not an exact science," Cmdr. Mike Grossman of Los Angeles County's homeland security office said. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich said criticisms that the list appears random "is not a characterization that's in any way accurate." She said the federal agency relies closely on state and local input. On the web Department of Homeland Security -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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