Thursday, August 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DRINKING SUPPLY: Terrorists had eyes on water

Security bulletin reveals treatment facility plot details

Recent government intelligence suggests terrorists have discussed recruiting employees of water treatment facilities to poison drinking supplies in hopes of causing mass casualties, according to a federal bulletin obtained by the Review-Journal.

Distributed Wednesday to law enforcement agencies and water facility operators nationwide, the document states that newly uncovered information indicates terrorists discussed striking water facilities in major urban areas before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Marked "not to be released to the public," the four-page bulletin issued by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security relates in chilling detail unnamed terrorists' plotting discussions monitored by the government.

"Terrorists thought it would be futile to attempt to directly poison a large water reservoir because of the dilution factor," the bulletin states. "Rather, they focused on the possibility of poisoning the water during the water treatment process."

Terrorists spoke about inserting an unnamed poison into water during the chlorination process. "To accomplish this objective, they discussed recruiting insiders to work with them," it reads.

Government officials have not found evidence that operatives were dispatched to the United States after the 2001 attacks to carry out such a plot, the bulletin states, and no imminent, credible threat has been detected.

But it notes that Homeland Security officials have assessed that "information discussed by the terrorists exhibits a certain degree of operational sophistication" regarding unsecured water facilities. "Such targeting would be consistent with al-Qaida's stated objective to cause mass casualties and to disrupt and undermine vital economic interests in this country."

In response, the bulletin explores vulnerabilities that could be exploited by workers with access to treatment processes and chemicals, advising several protective measures to secure facilities against two scenarios.

In the interest of public safety, the Review-Journal is not publishing details of those two scenarios or the 15 protective measures Homeland Security officials advocate for guarding against them. Local law enforcement officials and water treatment officials across the state said Wednesday that describing the measures would assist terrorists.

The bulletin notes that before terrorists shifted their focus to these vulnerabilities, they had expressed interest in attacking facilities in other ways or striking large-capacity water reservoirs. "Although no specific targets were selected, one specific site in the Northeastern United States was mentioned as an example."

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is made up of the region's seven water providers, learned of the information bulletin through a water industry Web site that is updated daily.

"We have excellent communication, and we take this issue very seriously," authority spokesman Vince Alberta said.

The agency has spent several million dollars since the 2001 attacks improving its security. Alberta said SNWA has already adopted most of the changes advocated in Wednesday's bulletin.

"We're evaluating and/or implementing all of them. Most were addressed two years ago," Alberta said.

Jim O'Brien, Clark County's director of emergency management, emphasized that the document offers no evidence of a specific threat.

"It's just an alert to be vigilant about in-house employees at these facilities," said O'Brien, who had forwarded the bulletin Wednesday afternoon to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

In September, an O'Brien aide and water authority officials conducted an exercise in which they responded to potential security troubles at a water authority facility.

Without offering any specifics, O'Brien said the water authority performed "very well" during the exercise.

In the northern part of the state, officials at the Washoe County Department of Water Resources reacted to the bulletin immediately after receiving it Wednesday morning.

"I have discussed it with our operations people. We have now completed our vulnerability analysis and are improving security," said John Collins, the agency's manager of utility services. "But we don't think it will apply to us because it says they're more worried about larger systems."