Federal Anti-terrorism Database
“Seems like someone has gone overboard. Their time could be spent better doing other things, like providing security for the country.”
- Larry Buss, who helps organize the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill.
“I don’t know where they get their information. We are talking about a flea market here.”
- Angela McNabb, manager of the Sweetwater Flea Market, 50 miles from Knoxville, Tenn.
“I am out in the middle of nowhere. We are nothing but a bunch of Amish buggies and tractors out here. No one would care.”
- Brian Lehman, owner of Amish Country Popcorn in Berne, Ind., who speculates that his business might be on the list “Maybe because popcorn explodes?”
The Clinton Apple and Pork Festival, the Sweetwater Flea Market, and Amish Country Popcorn are listed on the Department of Homeland Security’s list of critical potential terrorist targets. Other items on the list include Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo in Woodville, Ala., the Mule Day Parade in Columbia, Tenn., Nix’s Check Cashing, and the vaguely unspecified “Mall at Sears,” “Ice Cream Parlor,” “Tackle Shop,” “Donut Shop,” “Anti-Cruelty Society,” “Bean Fest” and the popular “Beach at End of a Street.” The list is so flawed that it lists only 2 percent of the nation’s banking and finance sector assets, which ranks it between North Dakota and Missouri.
Jarrod Agen, the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy press secretary, responds “We don’t find it embarrassing. The list is a valuable tool.” Indeed, the list is used to divvy up hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year, which may explain why in May, money to protect New York City and Washington DC was cut by 40%, while money was significantly increased for other cities including Louisville, KY, and Omaha, NE.
My question is whether the list, and the resulting money, favors “red states”?