RunningWithBulls.com - The curse of Sanfermin

I read this story before, but I picked it up again via Bruce Schenier.

That secret haven for world terrorists, Dillingham, Alaska, has suddenly become impenetrable to foreign terrorists.

The smart leaders of Dillingham (Dill from now on), managed to get $202,000US from the those good ole’ boys in the Homeland Security.

Why? Well to beef on up security. Dill’s Chief of Police Chief Thompson, explained the movie plot potential “security risk”:

“Russia is about 800 miles that way,” he says, arm extending right.
“Seattle is about 1,200 miles back that way.” He points behind him.

“So if I have the math right, we’re closer to Russia than we are to Seattle.”

Now imagine, he says: What if the bad guys, whoever they are, manage to obtain a nuclear device in Russia, where some weapons are believed to be poorly guarded. They put the device in a container and then hire organized criminals, “maybe Mafiosi,” to arrange a tramp steamer to pick it up. The steamer drops off the container at the Dillingham harbor, complete with forged paperwork to ship it to Seattle. The container is picked up by a barge.

“Ten days later,” the chief says, “the barge pulls into the Port of Seattle.”

Thompson pauses for effect.

“Phoooom,” he says, his hands blooming like a flower.

If he had a “yipee kae motherfucker” in there somewhere, and he had a Die Hard movie plot. Sell it. Shoot it. Can it.

Of course the 80 security cameras will do absolutely nothing to stop, deter these “organized criminals”.

One possible use for the cameras, would be to build a nice high bandwidth network of webcams for tourists. I think thats what they seem to have done.

At least they are open about where the money came from, as in their FAQ:

2. Where did the money come from? The funds for the project came from the taxes each of us pays to the U.S. Government every year and was returned to our community’s use via a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

I do fear that the whole project was a little wasteful.

8. Who watches them?
Mostly no one. As explained above, the activation of image recording is generally automated. Per policy only employees trained in the use of the system will conduct active viewing. System policy directs that live surveillance of an area covered by the system will not be selected in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner and that if security devices make use of more than one technology (visible light video, infrared video, sound, etc.) and the technologies are governed by different rules, the more restrictive rules apply. Thus, infrared video is restricted to the two intake cells and audio is by default disabled.

At least the images are stored for only 20 days, as opposed to something mad like…oh I don’t know…two years!

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