When the 9/11 attacks happened, two of my coworkers were at a conference in Chicago. They wanted to get back to their families here in NJ, but the airlines were shut down. So they rented a car and started driving.
Rather than go the whole length in one trip (everyone was pretty burned out over the course of the day), they elected to stop at a motel when they reached Akron, OH. The next morning, they read the local paper (the ABJ) while having their breakfast and checking out. One of the guys told me that the newspaper included emergency evacuation plans in the event that Akron was struck by a terrorist attack.
“Not to sound mean,” he said, “but I really don’t think the terrorists were planning to hit New York, Washington, and then–the coup de grace–Akron!”
It’s in that spirit that I offer you an NYTimes article about the national database of potential terrorist targets. Which state, according to the DHS, has the most targets? Indiana!
The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.
Now you’re just being mean.