January 26, 2005
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Brian Allen, Reporter
FBI, Metro Disagree Over Las Vegas Terror Alert
Sheriff Bill Young
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(Jan. 21) — There is disagreement Friday night between the FBI and Metro Police concerning Thursday’s terror warning for Las Vegas when the city was put on alert. But not everyone knew, including some of the highest officials in the state’s homeland security department.
The Las Vegas FBI learned Wednesday at 6 p.m. about information linking possible terrorist activity to Las Vegas. Nevada Homeland Security Commissioner Dennis Nolan didn’t know until Thursday night when he heard about it for the first time on the news.
Nolan said, “All of us who are members of the Homeland Security Commission have a vested interest in issues like we see unfold yesterday.”
The Nevada Homeland Security Commission draws up terrorism response plans, but it is not responsible for carrying out those plans. Nolan believes that’s why the commission wasn’t let it on the FBI information. He wants that procedure reviewed, “If there is some type of action the commission needs to take or forward to the legislature we can do that.”
Eyewitness News investigated why the information was only released to a few agencies, who knew about the FBI terror warning, and who thinks they should have known about it? And why didn’t Metro or the FBI alert the public about Thursday’s terrorism warning?
Both agencies say the information was vague and they say without specifics, there was no need to tell you. Sheriff Bill Young worried about triggering what he called “mass pandemonium.”
“There’s a certain after-effect that takes place. Peoples’ nerves can become frayed, business stops, kids don’t go to school, people are upset,” Sheriff Young stated.
This statement in spite of previous publicly announced terror warnings for New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Boston, where mass pandemonium did not occur.
Young says even if he wanted to tell the public, he couldn’t. “This came from the FBI. They said I could not disclose it.”
The FBI says that’s not true. Agent Dave Schrom tells Eyewitness News quote: “We did not prohibit him from disclosing the information”.
On Las Vegas One, public relations expert Billy Vassiliadis told Jon Ralston that Sheriff Young has to balance public safety with public information. “But at some point he also feels the pressure of responding to his public,” said Vassiliadis.
Young says he consulted Las Vegas city manager Doug Selby, Clark County manager Thom Reilly and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman who all urged him not to say anything publicly about the warning.
The Mayor is also defending his own decision not to disclose the information. “You don’t want to get people upset when they can’t do something about it.”
There’s also some confusion about which law enforcement agencies were let in on the terror warning. Thursday, both Henderson and North Las Vegas police denied knowing about the terror warning.
Friday, Henderson Police confirm to Eyewitness News they were told about the warning on Wednesday night. North Las Vegas Police has not returned our calls.
Again, the FBI, Metro Police, casino security forces, taxi and limo operators all knew about a warning that could have impacted your safety. But no public announcement was made.
