Law Enforcement Troubled by Terror Hoaxes

Fake terrorism threats continue to waste authorities’ time and resources, undermining their ability to track actual national security threats, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2006).

There was a significant increase in hoaxes immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax mailings in 2001 (see GSN, July 19, 2005).  They still occur today on a nearly daily basis, according to senior federal officials.

Hoaxes are a “serious drain” on police stations and FBI offices, said Ken Wainstein, who leads the Justice Department’s National Security Division.  “These terror hoaxes distract law enforcement,” he said.

Most go unpublicized.  Otherwise, “people would be in a constant state of hyper-anxiety,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday.

Some have received national media attention.

A Wisconsin grocery store clerk was charged last year with posting online threats to detonate radiological “dirty bombs” at seven National Football League stadiums.  The hoax “caused a massive mobilization of every resource you can think of,” said Michael Drewniak, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark, N.J.

“You cannot possibly quantify the amount of dollars this cost in manpower and resources all because (someone) decided to scream fire — scream terrorism — in essentially seven football stadiums,” he told USA Today.

A Mexican man pleaded guilty last year to calling 911 to say that he had helped two Iraqis and four Chinese chemists enter the United States, and that they were taking nuclear material to Boston (see GSN, May 8, 2006).  More than 30 government agencies responded to the hoax, which prompted a nationwide manhunt and a public alert.

“We’re on the front lines of keeping the country safe, and when you’re distracted by these false threats, it goes right to the heart of our ability to protect the country,” said Dan Dzwilewski, who heads the FBI office in San Diego (Mimi Hall, USA Today, Jan. 19).

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