“No credible threat” to Chicago
Friday, Sep 9, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You’ve probably read about the “specific, credible but unconfirmed report that Al Qaeda again is seeking to harm Americans and in particular to target New York and Washington.” Patti Thompson, spokesperson for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, sent out this statement yesterday…
“The federal government did notify the state of Illinois regarding the possible threat. The state of Illinois has been updated through the day and will continue to get any updates as they become available..there have been no indications of any specific threats to anywhere in Illinois. We actually had a plan in place well before the 9-11 anniversary weekend, specifically for this time period and had already enacted it…it includes IEMA position mobile command posts…in northern Illinois, central Illinois and the southern portion of the state in the metro east area. The state’s radiological emergency assessment center will be activated over the weekend. The state’s 24/7 communications center is linked to the statewide terrorism intelligence center and will transfer any calls received from public safety personnel or the public regarding suspicious activities or any other intelligence that law enforcement might have.”
* More…
Reacting to an unconfirmed al-Qaida threat on New York or Washington in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Chicago emergency officials said there is “no credible threat” to the city.
“The City of Chicago has been in contact with our state and federal partners,” said Gary Schenkel, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. “While there is no credible threat to the city at this time, we remain vigilant.
“We encourage residents to also remain alert, and call 911 if you witness any suspicious or unusual activity.” […]
Heightened security presence also will be visible on the CTA, Metra and Amtrak, another regional emergency official said. Key government and private buildings also will receive special attention, he said.
* Chicago’s Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who was a New York cop ten years ago, talks about the new way of doing things…
McCarthy says things are better in Chicago and other major cities when it comes to being protected from a terrorist attack. One reason is the practice of sharing intelligence that developed in the years after the 9/11 attacks. Much more so than before, information gathered by the FBI, the CIA or other national sources is shared with local law enforcement.
Another reason is the improvement in technology that allows law enforcement in Chicago to communicate with the fire department and other emergency agencies, breaking down territorial walls between those groups and bridging technical systems as well. That is a capability that was lacking in New York at the time of the attacks, but that Chicago led the way in developing. […]
McCarthy would never say never again, but he says the public can be confident that the police department is doing everything possible to keep Chicago safe from a terrorist attack.
“I’m very confident that we’re safe. I just had my briefing with the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, so we’ve got our finger on the pulse of what’s going on, and we’ve got some things in place,” McCarthy said.
* Meanwhile, this press release, sent out before we learned about this possible threat, seems appropriate…
State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-Westmont) called upon his local volunteers and precinct committeemen to suspend political petition passing and other political activities this weekend in observance of the September 11th terrorists attacks 10th year anniversary. This is the first week candidates can pass petitions to be on the March 2012 election ballot under the newly drawn legislative maps following the census. Dillard will be attending multiple official ceremonies and church services over the weekend.
“This weekend is the time to transcend politics and partisan activities,” said Dillard in a letter to his local volunteers and committeemen. “Let us count our blessings and remember what is truly important.”
Discuss.
* Related…
* Chicago Police Create Counterterrorism Unit
* New study surveys the line between civil liberties and security
* Iftar In The Synagogue: Post-9/11 Chicago Jews And Muslims Foster Interfaith Community
* Honoring 9/11 in an unexpected way: via cabaret
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:19 pm:
Is it okay to blame Bush for the better integration of our first-responders/intelligence services?
- wordslinger - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:20 pm:
Time to get over 9/11.
Ten years ago, some losers got lucky, hijacked some planes and killed a lot of people.
They were lowlife fanatics. They are and never were existential threats like the British Empire, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Third Reich, the Empire of Japan or the Soviets.
We made themselves into something bigger than life and it has cost us dearly in blood and treasure. Just keep whacking them with the drones and move on.
- just sayin' - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:30 pm:
Okay first of all, no one would be doing politics on 9/11 anyway. No one needs a lecture from the likes of Kirk Dillard.
But leave it to Dillard to use 9/11 for political purposes via an unnecessary call not to use 9/11 for political purposes.
It’s just so Dillard. But on the other hand, if Dillard is prevented for even one day from playing both sides of an issue in a weasely manner for personal political gain, the terrorists win.
Frankly I just consider any day where Dillard’s not cutting another campaign ad for Obama to be a good one.
- JustMe - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:36 pm:
No middle-eastern terrorist is going to attack Illinois. One of the few sources of comic relief they enjoy over there is watching tapes of Pat Quinn press conferences and seeing how our government is more disfunctional than theirs.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:36 pm:
just saying’ said,
“Frankly I just consider any day where Dillard’s not cutting another campaign ad for Obama to be a good one.”
The Chicago Tribune totally debunked the myth your spinning during the last election cycle. Of course, I’m sure your knowledge is much superior.
Candidates are holding unseemly partisan events over this weekend, announcing candidacies and holding petition drives. For the likes of you, I guess that’s what 9/11 is all about. Every once in a while we need to step back from our highly partisan attacks and the polluted political atmosphere in Illinois, and reflect on the sacrifices that others have made on our behalf so that we can come here and debate issues on CapFax.
I applaud Dillard’s statement, and wish some of the buffoons in this state would take a similar approach.
- Niles Township - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:38 pm:
Update from downtown: A slightly elevated police foot presence noted today, but I mean slightly. Really not much at all.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:40 pm:
*you’re
- 47th Ward - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:42 pm:
Cinci, if we credit/blame Bush, then can we also say thanks to the taxpayers who’ve shelled out countless billions to fund Secret America? I’m sure you couldn’t turn away from Fox News long enough to see this on Tuesday, but if you have a moment, check out this Frontline episode that tries to document how much we’ve spent to stay safe.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/
Next time you’re wailing about cutting federal spending, think about how much spending there is that we’ll never know about. How do you cut what you can’t see?
- wordslinger - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:48 pm:
Wow, Cincy, what else do you see in your crystal ball? They’re coming after the liberals, at one of their bastions no less, huh? And you have a problem with that? What’s taking them so long, if they’re ten feet tall?
There’s a difference between burying your head in the sand and not being afraid to come out from under the bed. How many more years do we have to spend ten billion a month in Afghanistan so you’ll e less afraid?
- just sayin' - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:50 pm:
Cincinnatus you said,
“The Chicago Tribune totally debunked the myth …”
What “myth” are you talking about?
Surely you aren’t claiming Dillard didn’t participate in taping a campaign ad for Obama. Not only did he do exactly that in the ‘08 cycle he participated in a conference call for reporters with the Obama campaign when the ad was rolled out.
That’s fact. If you’ve got a Trib story saying something else, let’s see it.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:50 pm:
47th,
Again with the FoxNews meme? Don’t you liberals ever tire of trying to blame some outside agency for another’s opinion. Geesh, I expect WAYYY better of you.
I have worked 20 years in the defense industry. Trust me when I tell you it surprises me not that there is waste and outrageous costs. I can go off on a rant about why this occurs, but I won’t here. Let’s just say that the contractors aren’t the only source of the problems and leave it at that.
As far as the “Secret War” funding, remember that many decisions were made in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Hopefully, our elected officials are fine-tuning the shotgun approach Republicans and Democrats alike thought we needed under the threat (maybe unwarranted) of another immediate attack. Can money be saved? Probably. Does money still need to be spent? Undoubtedly.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:52 pm:
http://capitolfax.com/wp-mobile.php?p=3845&more=1
- shore - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 1:53 pm:
agreed with just sayin. Political stunt by dillard, schakowsky is doing events. not a surprise.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 2:08 pm:
Yeah right, shore. 9/11 hits very close to home for Dillard, a regular church goer and a leader in his church. His pastor was killed in the World Trade Center that day.
Furthermore, just sayin’s claim is equally off-the-wall. Dillard was received the second most votes as an McCain delegate to the 2008 nominating convention and raised enormous amounts of money in Illinois in support of McCain. Just sayin’.
- Fed up - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 2:18 pm:
I hate the politics of 9/11. Their was no credible threat to New York on 09 Sep 2001. That being said America will be hit by terrorism again. I believe Chicagi is I’ll prepared for a terrorist attack. It took the CPD months to respond to mob attacks downtown and their chief still try’s to spin having to close a beach by saying it was to hot. Sooner or later mass transit or the schools will be attacked. Every nation that deals with terrorism has had it happen hopefully our first responders have the training and resources to meet the attack.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 2:43 pm:
===Just wait until a bomber sets off a dirty device, which will probably take place in some liberal bastion and make it uninhabitable for 100 years.===
Cinci, when you write stuff like that it sounds remarkably similar to the gasbags on Fox News. You just changed “San Francisco” to “liberal bastion” so pardon me for assuming it was unlikely that you’d be watching PBS this week.
BTW, the point of the Frontline piece was not that we shouldn’t spend the money. The point was the budgets are secret, so we don’t know who is getting paid, or how much, or what they are doing with our money. I thought you Tea Party Patriots would find that secrecy troubling, especially in this time of austerity you keep harping about.
- Dirty Red - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 2:45 pm:
Even if the feds had notified the state, would the state have said so?
- Fed up - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 3:17 pm:
47th
The amount of Money spent is unjustifiable the amount wasted is uncalculatble. I agree with Wordslinger that terrorists are not the same type of threat as a foreign nation. Afghanistan was a justifiable war in my opinion in that they were harboring the terrorist that attacked the U.S. Iraq and now libiya were not threats to the U.S. We cannot continue to attack countries that we disagree with just because we can. The reality is these wars are leading to the economic ruin of our country. Yes their are other factors but we have spent trillions on these wars and Iraq and Libiya may be less stable now then before we helped liberate them. I hate taxes but cutting taxes and waging war at the same time is a real bad idea. Obama has expanded the countries wars the opposite of what he campaigned on.
- just sayin' - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 4:36 pm:
Cincinnatus, what’s your point? The link you posted does zip to disprove what I said.
Dillard did an ad for Obama in 2008. Dillard can choose weasel words all he wants but the fact is he did an ad to help his friend Obama in the 2008 campaign. Then also hedged his bets by being part of the disastrous McCain effort in Illinois. Just makes my point.
And ask any of Dillard’s own gop senate colleagues. He lost the Minority Leader gig to a relatively inexperienced Radogno for the primary reason that he did that Obama ad. Also single biggest reason he lost to Brady in the primary last year. Also a big reason looks like he’s going to have a primary challenge this time.
You just don’t get over stupid judgment like that.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Sep 9, 11 @ 4:50 pm:
His inexperienced primary challenger chickened out on voting on two of the most contentious issues this session, the DREAM act and the Gaming bill. This Obama protege (yes, he worked for Obama) doesn’t even have the guts to vote present, he NVs, even though he voted on the 20-some other bills voted in the House that day. Sounds to me that the protege is right in your sweet spot.