June 04, 2004
"Prepositioned weapons of mass destruction"
for terrorists: America's chemical plants.
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As is often the case with these things, Salon was well ahead of the curve on this one.
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60 Minutes did a piece about this awhile back, too. Steve Kroft investigated chemical plant security, actually just walked into one such plant (accompanied by an expert, whom he was interviewing) and just strolled around, pointing at things and asking questions. He hadn't notified the plant and had no ID. They waved hello to some of the plant workers. Nobody said boo until after they'd walked out the unlocked back gate (where they came in). Security finally stopped them on the train tracks. Kroft was fined $500.
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Yeah, the second link is the 60 minutes transcript. That was crazy. It's really amazing to me that still nothing has changed. I guess I'm just not cynical enough. Here's an older MeFi post with some more links.
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It looks like 60 minutes is going to replay Kroft's piece tonight. (They were suppossed to replay the interview with Sibel Edmonds last week, but it looks like it's been put off indefinitely.)
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And then there are the nuclear plants. Bush Leaves Nuclear Plants at Risk Nuclear Safety Lapses Won't Be Revealed
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For the Bush administration, it seems, homeland security is critical except when it conflicts with the wishes of supporters who own chemical plants.
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Secretary of Homeland Insecurity
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The Next Attack
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Bogus company got license for nuke materials, report says