U.S. Response:  Nuclear Testing Site Could Be Counterterrorism Center

U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge plans to visit the Nevada Test Site next week with state officials who want transform the site into a major anti-terrorism training center.  U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other officials want to use the site to train police, firefighters and public health workers in counterterrorism methods.

Advocates of the plan have pointed to the large size and remote location of the site as reasons for conducting training there.  The 1,350-square-mile site, northwest of Las Vegas, was used for nuclear testing from 1951 to 1992  (see GSN, Dec. 18).

Authorities have not yet decided what to do with the site, Ridge’s spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday.  Nevada lawmakers have proposed the training center idea for years, but the proposal has gained new attention since Sept. 11, according to the Associated Press.  Emergency responders train in limited anti-bioterrorism tactics several times a year at the site (Mark Sherman, Associated Press, Jan. 3).

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Threat Assessment:  FBI Extends Threat Alert

The FBI extended the terrorism alert for the United States Wednesday through March 11 (see GSN, Dec. 18).  The alert was based on general threat information rather than a specific threat, officials said yesterday.  “We continue to receive generalized threats on a daily basis,” said an FBI official.

The alert is scheduled to extend beyond the Winter Olympics scheduled for Feb. 8-24 in Salt Lake City.  Olympic events have raised security issues in the past, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.  Several officials said they did not think the fact that March 11 would be the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks was related to the alert, according to the Miami Herald (Borenstein/Savino, Miami Herald, Jan. 4).

The Dec. 22 arrest of Richard Reid for attempting to bomb an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami was one reason for extending the warning, officials said.  The FBI suspects Reid’s attempt could have been part of a planned second round of attacks, the Washington Post reported.

The Bush administration has issued three alerts since Sept. 11, and some critics have said the alerts frighten the public without providing details.  The warning issued this week was sent only to law enforcement agencies and not announced publicly.

“The decision was made that it might make more sense to do it this way from now on,” said a law enforcement official.  Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said recently that he wanted to develop a system with different levels of alert (Eggen/Miller, Washington Post, Jan. 4).

Local authorities said there was little more they could do protect against threats, the Miami Herald reported.  “We stay at the highest level of readiness,” said Bob Andrews, Las Vegas emergency management chief.

Ridge is scheduled to visit the site of the Olympics next week (Borenstein/Savino, Miami Herald, Jan. 4).

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U.S. Response:  Officials Warn Against False Protection

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently warned 71 Web sites to remove claims that they sell products to defend against biological warfare, agency officials said yesterday.  Web site operators must remove such claims or face prosecution that could include penalties such as an $11,000 fine unless the Web site provides scientific evidence that the product lives up to its advertisement.

The announcement followed similar e-mail warnings the agency sent to 50 Web sites in November.  Half of those sites have removed their claims, the FTC said.  The agency did not name the Web sites under suspicion, but officials said they had discovered more than 200 sites selling products to protect people from bioterrorism (Reuters/Los Angeles Times, Jan. 3).

Most of the recently warned Web sites were selling gas masks and suits allegedly designed to protect against nuclear, biological and chemical materials. Many probably claimed the equipment protected against far more than was realistic, said Howard Beales, director of consumer protection for the agency.  “There’s no such thing as a universal gas mask that will filter everything,” he said. 

Beales said the agency was concerned that some of the gas masks on the market had expired filter cartridges and he urged interested consumers to look for masks with certification from the U.S. Defense Department or the National Institute for Organizational Safety and Health.  The agency also warned Web site operators against making false claims that their products were certified by the government, Beales said.

Most of the 50 sites that received warnings in November claimed to sell treatments for anthrax, smallpox and other potential bioterrorism diseases.  The products included dietary supplements, which do not protect against such diseases, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Other Web sites under suspicion sell products such as mail sterilizers and kits to test for biological substances.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month told two companies—Homeland Security Plus and Testing Kits Inc.—to stop selling pesticides they claimed protected against anthrax, and they removed the advertisements from their Web sites.  Authorities last month also charged businessmen in New York for selling a device they said killed anthrax germs using ultraviolet light (David Ho, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Jan. 3).

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Chinese Response:  New Anti-Terrorism Law Passed

China passed new anti-terrorism laws Saturday, including provisions providing for:

*         A prison sentence of three to 10 years for releasing poisonous, radioactive or biological substances when no serious harm occurs;

*         A sentence of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or the death penalty for releasing poisonous, radioactive or biological substances when serious injury or death occurs;

*         Various prison sentences for involvement in terrorist organizations or funding terrorist activities; and

*         Punishment for anyone illegally producing, buying, selling, stealing or transporting chemical, radioactive or biological substances (Xinhua Domestic Service, Dec. 29 in FBIS-CHI, Dec. 31).

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