By Tim Smith CAPITAL BUREAU tcsmith@greenvillenews.com
COLUMBIA -- The Inspector General's Office for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security has questioned a list of potential
terrorist targets collected by the agency that shows South Carolina
with fewer sites than almost every other state.
South Carolina has a total of 308 "assets" on the national
security database, which nationwide includes places ranging from
national monuments to chemical and nuclear plants, dams, industrial
sites, theme parks and large stadiums.
The report didn't detail or name the sites in South Carolina.
Inspector General Richard Skinner concluded in the report that
after years of gathering data from the states, the list "is not an
accurate representation" of the most at-risk sites.
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He said the potential terrorist sites listed nationwide include
two petting zoos, a check cashing store, a veterinary clinic, a flea
market and the makers of Amish Country Popcorn.
Robert Stewart, chief of the State Law Enforcement Division in
South Carolina, said Wednesday, "I think some states went for the
numbers and put some sites on there that probably wouldn't make the
grade in South Carolina."
Indiana listed more targets, 8,591, than any other state and 50
percent more than New York, which had 5,687 on the National Asset
Database.
North Carolina has 720 on the list, while Georgia has 1,514,
according to the inspector general's report.
State Sen. Phil Leventis, a former fighter pilot and retired
brigadier general in the state Air National Guard, said the list's
biggest flaw is that it is an attempt to think logically about what
terrorists might target, even though terrorists "have a twisted
sense of reality."
"It doesn't change my notion that you have to be vigilant
wherever you live," he said. |