{"id":3175,"date":"2004-12-09T11:31:38","date_gmt":"2004-12-09T16:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/3175.html"},"modified":"2004-12-09T11:31:38","modified_gmt":"2004-12-09T16:31:38","slug":"their-list-is-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/their-list-is-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Their list is a joke’"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 9\/11, the White House said the creation of a terrorist target list would be a key national priority. After the DHS was created, Tom Ridge identified the list of possible sites as a key departmental task. Almost three years later, the Bush administration isn’t exactly getting the job done<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bush administration’s effort to create a national database of potential terrorist targets such as dams, pipelines, chemical plants and skyscrapers is far behind schedule and may take years to finish.<\/p>\n

Members of Congress who have seen parts of the classified list being created by the Department of Homeland Security say it’s a haphazard compilation that includes water parks and miniature golf courses but omits some major sites in need of security.<\/p>\n

“Their list is a joke,” said Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He called it “an exercise in full employment for bureaucrats, rather than a realistic way to make the country safer.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Ernest Istook is criticizing the administration, you know Bush’s gang is really doing a poor job. <\/p>\n

I mean really, sites that may actually get targeted aren’t on the list, but miniature golf courses are on the list? Can’t anyone here play this game?
\n
\nI also liked the Dems’ reaction.<\/p>\n

After a briefing Tuesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., criticized the effort. “I honestly don’t know what they’ve been doing over there,” she said. “I think you could take the average mayor or member of Congress and give them a month, and they would come up with a better list.”<\/p>\n

Michael O’Hanlon, a homeland security expert at the Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank, said the project so far amounts to “a stapling exercise.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Remember, national security is supposed to be Bush’s strength<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Robert Liscouski, who’s in charge of infrastructure protection at DHS, acknowledged that the process has been slow and “could take years to complete.” Feel safer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 9\/11, the White House said the creation of a terrorist target list would be a key national priority. After the DHS was created, Tom Ridge identified the list of possible sites as a key departmental task. Almost three years later, the Bush administration isn’t exactly getting the job done. The Bush administration’s effort to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}