Park Police Bomb Their Terrorism Test

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11312-2004Jan12.html

[Click on the link for the photo.  - WK]


By Richard Leiby
Tuesday, January 13, 2004; Page C01 

In broad daylight on Sept. 11, 2003, somebody deposited what could 
have been a "dirty bomb" at the Washington Monument. U.S. Park Police 
never noticed. 

It wasn't a real bomb, just a suspicious-looking black plastic bag 
stuffed with garbage. And the culprits weren't terrorists, but 
investigators from the Interior Department's Office of Inspector 
General, out to demonstrate the monument's vulnerability on that 
infamous anniversary. 

As documented in photos and a memo obtained by The Reliable Source, 
the feds left the bag at the rear of the obelisk for 20 minutes, then 
moved it near a security checkpoint where tourists lined up to enter 
the landmark. "Again, the unidentified bag sat there, undisrupted and 
unnoticed, for roughly 15 minutes," wrote Inspector General Earl E. 
Devaney in the memo, citing his "grave concerns for the security and 
public safety at these facilities." 

No Park Police could be seen on patrol, except for one in an unmarked 
car who "appeared to be sound asleep," Devaney wrote. 

The memo, now in the hands of the House Select Committee on Homeland 
Security, has some staffers in stitches. But Rep. Jim Turner (D-Tex.), 
ranking committee member, is outraged. "Without a doubt, if there had 
been a terrorist attack on the Washington Monument on Sept. 11, 2003, 
hundreds of tourists could have been killed," Turner told us 
yesterday. "Usually when we say someone was asleep at the wheel, it is 
just an expression, but this time, the Park Police were literally 
asleep at the wheel. . . . Someone needs to be held accountable for 
this." 

The memo increased controversy surrounding Park Police Chief Teresa C. 
Chambers, whom the National Park Service moved to fire last month 
after she publicly called the 620-member force overstretched and 
underfunded. Chambers, placed on leave and under a gag order from her 
bosses, can't comment. But supporters say she ordered an 
investigation, confirmed the lapses and tried to fix them -- all while 
under attack from what her attorney calls "internal terrorists." 

Tomorrow: deeper inside the Washington Monument "sleeper cell." 

[...]



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