Reid says Chertoff should resign

--Give 'em Hell Harry!!--

Link Here

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday, one day after the government dropped Las Vegas from a list of cities considered potential high-risk targets eligible for special anti-terrorism grants.

Reid, D-Nev., joins Clark County Sheriff Bill Young in calling for Chertoff to step down as a result of the decision jeopardizing millions in additional federal funding that Nevada currently receives as a result of being considered a potential terrorist target.

"Anyone who can't see that Las Vegas is a high-risk area doesn't deserve to serve in a position like that," Reid said.

"We had more visitors on New Year's Eve than they had in Times Square and we're not a high-risk area? For heaven's sakes."

Las Vegas and 10 other cities previously categorized as "high threat" fell behind 35 areas declared eligible this year for special grants earmarked by the Department of Homeland Security.

Las Vegas received $8 million in 2005 through such high-threat funding to purchase a spectrometer to detect chemical agents, special clothing, chemical response vehicles, handheld computers for emergency personnel to communicate, a bomb robot and a bomb armored vehicle, according to the Clark County Office of Emergency Management.

Chertoff defended the scaled-back approach as one that focuses federal grants on those areas most needing to make preparations, with the 35 locations decided by 3.2 billion calculations aimed at determining regions most susceptible to terrorism.

On Tuesday, Young called Chertoff "impossible" to deal with regarding the needs of a major tourist destination, one that last year played host to nearly 40 million visitors.

As evidence of risk, Young noted documented visits to Las Vegas before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by five of the airplane hijackers, revelations in a Detroit terrorism case that terrorists had plotted to strike Las Vegas, and a 2003 New Year's Eve threat alert under which hotels and airlines were asked by the government to turn over customer lists.

Reid said Chertoff previously proved himself an inappropriate director with his lumbering response to Hurricane Katrina .

Said Reid: "He did a lousy job on Katrina."




---Oh... Yeah.

A fighting Democrat. You Rock Harry!!!---