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Thursday, July 13    |    Upstate South Carolina News, Sports and Information

Terror target list questioned
South Carolina's 308 'assets' among lowest number on security database

Published: Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 6:00 am


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.


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