List Seeks to Assess U.S. Terror Targets
Bush Effort Examines Critical Infrastructure

October 10, 2002; Page A14
By Bill Miller, Washington Post Staff Writer

The Bush administration is close to completing a "super-critical list" of potential terrorist targets that, if struck, would cause the greatest damage to the United States in terms of lives, money, national defense and public confidence, officials said this week.

The list arises from what White House officials said was one of the most comprehensive examinations ever done of the nation's physical infrastructure, including its food and water supplies, telecommunications systems, energy facilities and transportation networks. Besides identifying the most glaring vulnerabilities, a team led by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is putting together a report that will recommend steps the government and private sector should take to tighten security.

Ridge said the assessment would put "a sharper point" on weaknesses uncovered since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But when the final report is finished later this year, he said, the public will not be provided with the most sensitive findings.

"We will let you know how we reviewed it, how we made the assessments, maybe generically some kind of recommendations," Ridge said in an interview this week at his White House office. "But we certainly don't want to be telegraphing our defenses to the enemy."

Ridge, who began his second year on the job Tuesday, said the study was a companion piece to the national anti-terror strategy his office released in July. The report will cover 13 "critical infrastructure" categories, including agriculture, food, water, public health, emergency services, government, defense industrial base, information and telecommunications, energy, transportation, banking and finance, the chemical industry, and postal and shipping operations.

"There's no magic wand here," Ridge said. "There's no easy way to go about the process of methodically and comprehensively taking a look at systems and determining where you have the greatest vulnerability. . . . It's a time-consuming and very demanding process."

Others working on the project said the report would deal with how to mobilize government and businesses in the fastest and most effective way if credible intelligence reveals threats of terrorism. The report also will call on government to work with industries in developing contingency plans to keep the infrastructure running in the event of an attack, they said.

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