Federal List of Terrorist Targets a "Joke About the Quality of Government Work," Says Prof. Ken Bode
July 14, 2006
July 14, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. - How can Indiana lead the nation in the number of potential sites for terrorist attacks on a list that doesn't include some of the nation's landmarks? Indiana "seem[s] to have been more thorough than other states in filling out the federal forms required by the Department of Homeland Security," answers Ken Bode in today's Indianapolis Star. "Thus, if you check the official federal terrorism database, you will find there are 50 percent more terrorism targets in Hoosierland than in New York and more than twice as many as in California. According to this Homeland Security list, our state ranks as the most target-rich place in the nation," writes Bode, Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University.
The federal terrorism database is the result of forms filled out by individual states; it, in turn, determined how anti-terrorism funds were allocated for the coming year. New York and Washington, D.C. both had their funding cut.
"When New York got its slice of funds reduced for next year, it 
was partly because the evaluators found that New York City had listed no 'national monuments or icons,'" the professor asserts. "Why New York didn't mention the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, the Brooklyn Bridge or the New York Stock Exchange is a mystery. But it's New York's problem."
Indiana, ranking 13th in population, is #1 on the list of "self-designated terrorism targets with 8,591. Now comes the inspector general of Homeland Security, a nosey parker with a green eyeshade who went over the submissions state by state. He found flea markets, water parks, cruise ships, jails, nursing homes, malls, mortuaries, shopping centers, public health buildings, casinos, power facilities, banks, loan companies all included on the lists. The Old McDonald's Petting Zoo, the Mule Day Parade and the Sweetwater Flea Market are now considered questionable as targets for terrorists."
Bode, former senior political analyst for CNN, is just getting started. "The only offending Indiana enterprise actually mentioned in the newspaper is the Amish Country Popcorn factory in Berne, which has five employees. That gives you an idea how complete our submission was," he continues. "If the Empire State Building or Disney World were in Indiana, you can bet they would have made it on our list. I've never thought of the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival or the Hot Dog Festival in Frankfort as targets for terrorist attacks, but I'm glad somebody in state government is on the ball."
Dr. Bode concludes, "Since someone has to wear the collar for this joke about the quality of government work, the buck is being passed 
up and down the bureaucracies. The federal government says the states didn't send what they were asked for, admitting to some 'definitional' problems in the instructions. When this news broke, Indiana's homeland security folks got a lot of questions, particularly, I'm sure, from reporters. Their answer is a good one. Since the definitions were unclear, Indiana took the safe side and reported all the state's important infrastructures... Whoever compiled Indiana's list, congratulations on a job well done. Thanks to you, we're No. 1!"
Read the complete column at College News.org.
Last Friday, Ken Bode's op-ed examined the case of former Army Pvt. Steven D. Green, who is accused in the massacre of four Iraqi citizens. It is accessible here.
Source: Indianapolis Star
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