Found in Iraq: US School District's Crisis Plan

[Annie]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040930-9999-7m30disk.html

S.D. school crisis plan is found on disk in Iraq


No threat seen to district; children are safe, police say
By Kelly Thornton
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 30, 2004

A man arrested by U.S. authorities in Iraq had a computer disk in his possession containing a public report downloaded from a U.S. Department of Education Web site on crisis planning in school districts, including San Diego Unified.

The man was described as an Iraqi national with connections to terrorism and the insurgency that is fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. Officials in San Diego said the man's intentions were unknown.


San Diego law enforcement officials said there was no indication of any terrorist plot against schools in San Diego or elsewhere in the country. They did not publicly release the information because there appeared to be no threat. The information was relayed to the San Diego FBI office last week and then to the school district Friday.

"The children are absolutely safe," said San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne. "If there was a threat, we, the San Diego Police Department, would be first to notify (parents). This is not a threat."

The disk contained a document entitled "Practical Information on Crisis Planning, A Guide for Schools and Communities." The 50-plus page document, published in May 2003 by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, is available to the public on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site, said San Diego District spokeswoman Peri Lynn Turnbull.

FBI officials visited the office of district Superintendent Alan Bersin Friday to inform him, Turnbull said. Because there was no indication that terrorists were targeting any schools, in San Diego or elsewhere, the district informed the school police department, but decided not to notify schools and parents.

"We certainly did not want to create any unnecessary panic in our community," Turnbull said. The FBI said because there was no specific threat, that was the appropriate response.

"The superintendent was alerted by the FBI that there were no direct threats to the district or any San Diego school and that by our maintaining our same level of care and concern that our schools would be safe," Turnbull said.

Dan Dzwilewski, head of the FBI office in San Diego, said there is no reason for alarm.

"We don't know the intention of the person that had this material," Dzwilewski said. "But the disk contained absolutely no threat information. It's only out of an abundance of caution – because it was discovered in Iraq – that we shared this with another public agency."

Some counterterrorism officials said they were concerned that the information would be misinterpreted and would alarm people unnecessarily. They said the information was withheld from the public because there was no specific threat, and the public may become inured to repeated general warnings of vague possibilities of attacks.

"There is no threat here," said a San Diego police lieutenant who spoke on condition of confidentiality because of the sensitive nature of such investigations. "When you've put out information month after month after month, the public thinks we're crying wolf.

"The context here is, a public source document put out by the U.S. Department of Education was found on a computer. Period. My concern would be if a particular school district, or a particular school, or a particular institution was targeted, which it has not been."

Lansdowne said the situation shows that the federal government is sharing information with local agencies in an efficient manner.

"I think it's a good indication of how quickly we're notified and the thoroughness of the information we receive," the chief said. "They give us all the information now and allow local jurisdictions to do with it what they think they should."

Lansdowne said the report on the disk lauds the district as an example of good planning.

The document mentions other school districts and gives information about evacuations, lockdowns and other emergency procedures in the event of a disaster, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack.

"If somebody read the article, they would say we're not going to pick San Diego because they have a very good plan in place," Lansdowne said. "It's probably more good news than bad news."

 

[Zhukov]

Plans for a domestic Beslan.....

 

[wade]

Or a guide to protecting their own schools should they be attacked.

 

[dilloduck]

Please telling me that you are joking !!!

 

[wade]

Me? Not at all. As a director of schools it would make perfect sense to aquire such information about how to protect your students. We need to know more about the individual. The loose description of "ties to..." is often bogus.

This is just one of those "be afraid" news items we are seeing so much of now.

Wade.

 

[dilloduck]

Me? Not at all. As a director of schools it would make perfect sense to aquire such information about how to protect your students. We need to know more about the individual. The loose description of "ties to..." is often bogus.

This is just one of those "be afraid" news items we are seeing so much of now.

Wade.

LOL ok--I thought you were referring the docs being plans for the terrorists to defend thier OWN schools. My Bad :duh3: