Timing Is Everything
I found this article in today's Los Angeles Times rather curious, primarily because of its timing.
About every three days, unknown to most Americans, an elite team of federal scientists hits the streets in the fight against nuclear terrorism.
The deployments are part of an effort since 2001 to ratchet up the nation's defenses. More than two dozen specialized teams have been positioned across the nation to respond to threats of nuclear terrorism, and as many 2,000 scientists and bomb experts participate in the effort. Spending on the program has more than doubled since it was launched.
And an evolving national policy aims to create a system of nuclear forensics, in which scientific analysis could quickly identify the source of a nuclear attack or attempted attack. A key report on nuclear forensics is due next month.
Apparently for the past several years, the federal government has been sending nuclear physicists disguised as backpack wearing fans to major sporting events in order to test for the presence of radiation. Now this sounds like a pretty sweet gig, except that, as any real fan knows, all backpacks are thoroughly searched at the admissions gate by TSA-type people who are not looking for bombs but rather beer and food not purchased at the concession stands. Getting in with that kind of equipment must be awfully tricky.
Still, one must admire the ingenuity of the government that has assembled this team of experts. That another terrorist attack might involve nuclear materials in a dirty-bomb package is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, as anyone who has watched "24" knows. Equally impressive is that the government has also developed an extensive plan for what happens if a device is found:
If a device were located, two other specialized teams would rush to the scene, one from a base in Albuquerque, where a fueled jetliner is on 24-hour alert. Another FBI team would depart from rural Virginia.
The teams would first attempt to disable a bomb's electrical firing system and then quickly transfer the weapon to the Nevada desert. There, the bomb would be lowered into the G Tunnel, a 5,000-foot-deep shaft, where a crew of scientists and FBI agents would attempt to disassemble the device behind steel blast doors, logging any evidence.
The evidence being logged would then be turned over to forensic experts to see if the source of the bomb or its materials can be determined. That information could be obtained within a matter of a few days after the device is secured. I think that's pretty impressive, assuming that all of this works as it is supposed to. That apprently is what the report assessing the program due out next month is supposed to tell us, which brings me back to the point I raised at the outset: the timing of this article.
The article makes it clear that the operation has been ongoing for several years at least, and it also makes it clear that the assessment is due out in February. Why is this so newsworthy now?
The article is silent about where all of this information initially came from. There is no "according to information released by the Office of Emergency Response at the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration." There isn't even an "according to a source who preferred to remain anonymous because not authorized to speak for the Office...". That said, however, it is pretty clear that the initial information must have come from some government source, unless Ralph Vartabedian, the reporter who claims the byline of the article, made the whole thing up, which is highly unlikely.
Assuming a government source, then, why now? Why not before this or even next month when the report is due out?
The only reason I can think of is that we are in the midst of an election season, one that doesn't look too rosy for the party of the current administration. Lest you think my tinfoil hat is a bit too tight, I would remind you of all the times that this administration has pulled the terra!terra!terra! card out of the deck whenever it was necessary to justify the diminishing of one civil right or another.
That I would even consider that about my government would engage in such a ploy is sad enough, especially if it is justified (which I think it is), but that the Los Angeles Times willingly played along is even sadder.
About every three days, unknown to most Americans, an elite team of federal scientists hits the streets in the fight against nuclear terrorism.
The deployments are part of an effort since 2001 to ratchet up the nation's defenses. More than two dozen specialized teams have been positioned across the nation to respond to threats of nuclear terrorism, and as many 2,000 scientists and bomb experts participate in the effort. Spending on the program has more than doubled since it was launched.
And an evolving national policy aims to create a system of nuclear forensics, in which scientific analysis could quickly identify the source of a nuclear attack or attempted attack. A key report on nuclear forensics is due next month.
Apparently for the past several years, the federal government has been sending nuclear physicists disguised as backpack wearing fans to major sporting events in order to test for the presence of radiation. Now this sounds like a pretty sweet gig, except that, as any real fan knows, all backpacks are thoroughly searched at the admissions gate by TSA-type people who are not looking for bombs but rather beer and food not purchased at the concession stands. Getting in with that kind of equipment must be awfully tricky.
Still, one must admire the ingenuity of the government that has assembled this team of experts. That another terrorist attack might involve nuclear materials in a dirty-bomb package is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, as anyone who has watched "24" knows. Equally impressive is that the government has also developed an extensive plan for what happens if a device is found:
If a device were located, two other specialized teams would rush to the scene, one from a base in Albuquerque, where a fueled jetliner is on 24-hour alert. Another FBI team would depart from rural Virginia.
The teams would first attempt to disable a bomb's electrical firing system and then quickly transfer the weapon to the Nevada desert. There, the bomb would be lowered into the G Tunnel, a 5,000-foot-deep shaft, where a crew of scientists and FBI agents would attempt to disassemble the device behind steel blast doors, logging any evidence.
The evidence being logged would then be turned over to forensic experts to see if the source of the bomb or its materials can be determined. That information could be obtained within a matter of a few days after the device is secured. I think that's pretty impressive, assuming that all of this works as it is supposed to. That apprently is what the report assessing the program due out next month is supposed to tell us, which brings me back to the point I raised at the outset: the timing of this article.
The article makes it clear that the operation has been ongoing for several years at least, and it also makes it clear that the assessment is due out in February. Why is this so newsworthy now?
The article is silent about where all of this information initially came from. There is no "according to information released by the Office of Emergency Response at the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration." There isn't even an "according to a source who preferred to remain anonymous because not authorized to speak for the Office...". That said, however, it is pretty clear that the initial information must have come from some government source, unless Ralph Vartabedian, the reporter who claims the byline of the article, made the whole thing up, which is highly unlikely.
Assuming a government source, then, why now? Why not before this or even next month when the report is due out?
The only reason I can think of is that we are in the midst of an election season, one that doesn't look too rosy for the party of the current administration. Lest you think my tinfoil hat is a bit too tight, I would remind you of all the times that this administration has pulled the terra!terra!terra! card out of the deck whenever it was necessary to justify the diminishing of one civil right or another.
That I would even consider that about my government would engage in such a ploy is sad enough, especially if it is justified (which I think it is), but that the Los Angeles Times willingly played along is even sadder.
Labels: Free Press, Terra Terra Terra
posted by Diane at 3:59 AM
3 Comments:
One can only hope this has been named "Operation Jack Bauer".
~
Amazing.
I guess next week we'll learn that Gitmo was just a training camp for Operation Jack Bauer.
Maybe it's supposed to make us feel better about this.
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