Security will be tight around the Super Bowl
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Security will be tight around the Super Bowl
Federal officials told some Houston-area energy facilities to stay on high alert after the national threat level was lowered last week because of specific intelligence that the Texas energy sector was being targeted by terrorists, officials said. That and this report from The Houston Chronicle's Michael Hedges
"Some energy infrastructure sites in Texas have been advised that (heightened) security measures should remain in place," said a federal official.
"Part of that, too, is that we are entering the Super Bowl period. The Super Bowl hasn't been designated a special security event, but it is something we are aware of," he said.
The Super Bowl will be played in Houston's Reliant Stadium on Feb. 1.
Last month, as the threat alert level was elevated nationally, intelligence agencies contacted 134 energy facilities in Texas, many in the Houston and Galveston area, and told them to restrict access to visitors and beef up security, the official said.
That was done after overseas sources used by intelligence agencies had specifically named Houston and Galveston energy facilities as among the targets being discussed by persons believed to be affiliated with terrorist organizations.
"As part of the threat stream that was being assessed, there were reports that concerned Houston, and some oil and gas facilities in the Houston area," the official said.
As in most cases, the intelligence was not complete or precise.
"The intelligence wasn't that specific. But there was reason to be concerned about multiple, simultaneous attacks on the oil and gas industry," the official said. "Al-Qaida doesn't tell us where or when they plan to attack."
The Houston region, known for its petrochemical industries and pipelines, is home to four of the 10 largest refining facilities in the country.
Along with the Texas energy facilities, suspected terrorists had discussed targeting oil facilities at the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline in Valdez, Alaska, the official said.
Most Houston public safety organizations, including the Houston Police Department, were told to lower their security from the elevated orange alert status last week to yellow, officials said.
But the threat level for many oil and petrochemical facilities was kept high and is being reassessed on a daily basis, officials said.
Some companies with facilities in the Houston-Galveston area have been told in the past two days that they can return to a more moderate level of concern, officials said.
Maurice McBride, director for security at the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said that members have reported what appeared to be frequent attempts to stake out energy facilities and test their security measures.
"There seems to be an ongoing series of attempts by unidentified persons to do surveillance at refineries and petrochemical plants, including those in the Houston-Galveston area," he said. "There have been a number of reports of people taking pictures, of unidentified people spotted at loading docks."
That has created a near-perpetual state of alert at energy facilities, McBride said. "I can safely say our industry is pretty much operating at an `orange' (elevated) level of alert all the time," he said.
Mary Rose Brown, a spokesman for Valero Energy Corporation in San Antonio, said the company's security officials were notified by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday that it could relax its heightened alert. That came five days after the level was dropped nationally.
"They put us back on yellow," she said. "But after 9/11 we are staying on heightened alert all the time."
Since terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the petrochemical industry has embraced a number of security measures, and members trade intelligence and ideas through a security committee at the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said trade association president Bob Slaughter.
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Security will be tight around the Super Bowl
Moderator: S2k Moderators
Security is tight but I found the item that I put into bold interesting to note.
"There seems to be an ongoing series of attempts by unidentified persons to do surveillance at refineries and petrochemical plants, including those in the Houston-Galveston area," he said. "There have been a number of reports of people taking pictures, of unidentified people spotted at loading docks."
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