Analysis: Terrorism advisory group aided Marcellus industry
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HARRISBURG -- State Homeland Security Director James Powers Jr. hasn't said much about the purpose of a $125,000 anti-terrorism contract that the state entered into last October with a security firm based both in Philadelphia and Jerusalem.
But in a recent memo that was leaked to the news media, Mr. Powers made it sound as if the deal with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Resources was aimed at helping Marcellus Shale gas companies learn about the actions of environmental activists who oppose deep underground drilling for gas.
Mr. Powers, who was hired by Gov. Ed Rendell's administration in 2006, issued a tri-weekly "intelligence bulletin" to state police, local authorities and some Marcellus gas drillers. It was supposed to contain information that ITRR gained regarding "credible threats to critical infrastructure," as Mr. Rendell put it.
But in his memo, Mr. Powers said bluntly, "We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against these same companies."
The memo stated that the bulletin "is not for dissemination to the public," but "is solely meant for owners/operators & security personnel associated with our critical infrastructure & key resources."
By mistake, Mr. Powers e-mailed the memo to someone who opposes the Marcellus Shale drilling instead of only sending it to gas drilling supporters, as he had intended. The drilling opponent, in turn, sent it to media outlets, including an investigative journalism group called Pro Publica and to the weekly Philadelphia City Paper.
In a statement Wednesday, state Homeland Security official Maria Finn said the institute was hired in 2009 because Mr. Powers considered it to be "the only U.S. private-sector, multi-lingual company specializing in collection and analysis of human intelligence that [the state] needed to carry out certain duties." The office, after doing research, concluded there was no other such service other than the FBI and CIA, she said.
First Published September 16, 2010 12:00 am
