Houston named in unsubstantiated terrorist threat

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The threats against Houston hospitals are unsubstantiated, but Bob Doguim with the local office of the FBI says people should remain vigilant.

By Ted Oberg ABC13 Eyewitness News

(11/13/02) — The war on terrorism comes to Houston as the FBI issues a warning that this city could be the target of terrorists. Hospitals in particular have been told to be on guard.

And if you're going to threaten hospitals, Houston has a lot of places to worry about. There are thirteen hospitals alone in the medical center and dozens elsewhere. The threat is not specific enough to name which ones should watch out.

"The information suggests that they could be threatened either by bombings or perhaps some kind of anthrax delivery," said Bob Doguim with the Houston office of the FBI. "Again, that's not very clear."

Employees at several hospitals were told about the threat. Memorial Hermann Hospital and Ben Taub employees were apparently read parts of a memo that mentioned a non-specific explosive or anthrax threat sometime between December and April. Hospital spokespeople are not going into detail about the threat on Houston.

From the Texas Medical Center, "We have seen the notice and are aware of it and will not discuss what measures may be taken."

The Harris County hospital district adds, "We stand prepared to deal with the community's needs."

This is not the first time Houston's faced these type of threats. On July Fourth, we were under a general warning. On July 12, Pasadena refineries were warned. And on the anniversary of September 11th, we were told to watch out again. So far the threats never materialized.

"If you want to go with the old tale of crying wolf, the story goes they cried wolf and there really wasn't a wolf there," said Doguim. "Well, there is a wolf here and that wolf came into the house on september 11th."

Several hospitals have taken several different measures. While we don't know exactly what this entails, Ben Taub tells us they have activated their disaster command. The worst case scenario would close the hospital if it ever became the actual target of an attack, but it has not done that.

We have been told several times by several people that this is an uncorroborated threat and in no way should you ignore your health or medical needs. If you need to go to a hospital, certainly go there.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002

Answers

FBI: Hospitals possible terror targets

HOUSTON (AP) — The FBI has received unconfirmed information from intelligence sources overseas that hospitals in four U.S. cities could be the targets of a terrorist threat.

Houston FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said Wednesday night the vague threat involved hospitals in Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and mentioned a time between December and April.

"It's non-specific, uncorroborated information, but nonetheless it is information we received," Doguim said.

He said the threat mentions the possibility of anthrax or explosives.

"The alleged attack would take place in reaction to the continued arrest of a Pakistani national by Pakistani authorities," according to an FBI statement.

A statement from the Chicago FBI office said the threat suggested an attack was timed for mid-December and the holidays.

"We've always been on a state of high alert," Chicago officer Carlos Herrera said. "That hasn't changed."

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002


White House chastises FBI about hospital threat

Thursday, November 14, 2002 Posted: 11:05 AM EST (1605 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House admonished the FBI on Thursday for releasing what it considers unreliable information about a possible terrorist threat to hospitals in four U.S. cities.

Several officials said the White House had made clear its displeasure to the FBI for, as one put it, "getting people unnecessarily alarmed because they did not handle this correctly." This official called the information about a potential threat to hospitals of "very low credibility."

An Office of Homeland Security official also said the intelligence that led to the warning was of "low credibility" and that is why the information wasn't released.

Another source characterized the intelligence as significantly less reliable than information shared with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the past.

He said there is no plan to raise the country's threat level because there are no current threats that are sufficiently specific and credible.

The FBI alerted medical centers in Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C., that it had received uncorroborated information that hospitals could be targets of terrorist strikes around the holiday season.

The White House officials said it is now routine, as a precaution, to share such information with federal and other law enforcement agencies so that they can adjust protective measures. But the White House said that, in its view, there was no reason to make the information public through an official notice to the medical centers.

A statement issued to all San Francisco-area medical providers on November 12 detailed the threat:

"On or about December 15, explode bombs/restart anthrax crisis/will do harm in one of the hospitals in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington."

Houston was also on the list, according to Bob Dogium of the FBI office in Houston.

Dogium called it a "general, blanket threat" that was neither corroborated nor specific. Nevertheless, Dogium said the FBI was releasing news of the threat to urge people to be alert and diligent.

According to a statement from the FBI office in Chicago, the timing of the possible attacks "is mid-December and the holiday period." The attacks would be in reaction to "the continued arrest of a Pakistani national by Pakistani authorities," according to the statement. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that hospital administrators should beef up security in and around their facilities and "be aware of terrorists looking for soft targets."

"A hospital would be a very soft target," Shelby said. "We would hope no one would ever try to blow up a hospital with patients and people in it, but terrorists would."

"As we ratchet up toward Iraq, we have to believe that there will be attempts in this country ... to do us harm," he said.

Jim Eaton, chairman of the emergency management committee of California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, said his hospital was prepared for such emergencies. "We take any threat like that seriously in a hospital environment," he told CNN.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002


An anthrax threat? oh shit.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2002

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