Parents
told CD not linked to terror
Jersey schools still beefed up security
Saturday, October 09, 2004 • BY MARYANN SPOTO AND
JONATHAN SCHUPPE • Star-Ledger Staff
State and federal officials said yesterday there was no
terrorist link to a compact disc found in Iraq with
information on two New Jersey school districts.
However, about a thousand people packed a hastily
arranged meeting at Rumson-Fair Haven High School last night
to find out why they were kept in the dark for weeks about
the discovery.
One father at the meeting called out: "Why didn't you
tell us what you knew when you knew it? They're our
kids."
Authorities said the disc, recovered in July by military
personnel, contained the results of Internet searches on
safety and security policies at school districts around the
country. They included the Rumson-Fair Haven School District
in Monmouth County, the Franklin Township School District in
Gloucester County, as well as districts in Fort Myers, Fla.;
Salem, Ore.; Gray, Ga.; Birch Run, Mich., and San
Diego.
After analyzing the data, the FBI determined that the
Iraqi doctor who downloaded the information had no terrorist
intentions.
"This person had no connection to terror, nor did the
information contained in his materials," said Special Agent
William Evanina, a spokesman for the FBI's Newark office.
"We don't know why he had the information, but we do know it
wasn't terror."
But Sidney Caspersen, New Jersey's Counter-Terrorism
director, said the doctor's father was linked to the
insurgency in Iraq. "Pretty much the father was a bad guy,"
he said.
Homeland Security authorities acknowledged they ordered
increased security at the two New Jersey districts after
learning of the disc from the FBI last month. But they
withheld the details because it was classified by the
military.
"We had no authorization to release the classified
information, and we didn't want to start a panic," Caspersen
said.
Before 9/11, such information never would have made it
to the states, because all war zone intelligence is deemed
confidential by the federal government, officials said. But
Homeland Security authorities have been "bending over
backward" to balance that confidentiality with the duty to
tell the public what it needs to stay alert, Evanina
said.
In this case, that meant having FBI officials in each of
the six states tell school officials about the CD, Evanina
said. In New Jersey, FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph
Billy and Caspersen agreed that Caspersen would pass on the
information. In other states, including Michigan, California
and Florida, FBI agents went straight to the school
officials.
Caspersen said he was briefed late on Sept. 14. On Sept.
16, he briefed county prosecutors, counter-terrorism
officials, police chiefs and Education Commissioner William
Librera about basic information found on the disc about the
New Jersey districts. Caspersen said he told the officials
to have schools beef up security, but not to tell them what
was on the disc. Instead, he told them to use as "cover"
lingering concerns relating to the Sept. 1 school siege in
Beslan, Russia.
Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said he asked
Caspersen's office for permission to brief school officials
on Sept. 21 and was told not to. Instead, Kaye offered the
officials only a vague explanation for needing extra
security precautions. School officials said they complied,
but didn't tell students.
"One of the results would have been a lot of people
upset unnecessarily," said Rumson-Fair Haven Superintendent
Robert Smith.
Officials beefed up "buffer zone protection" at the
schools, including sending bomb-sniffing dogs to Rumson-Fair
Haven schools on a Sunday, Kaye said. Police changed their
patrol schedules, doubled manpower at school activities and
examined three years' worth of arrests and motor vehicle
stops. School officials were told to check on contractors
doing work in the district. They found nothing
suspicious.
Kaye eventually learned that the information on the disc
included only the Rumson-Fair Haven district's policy on
vandalism and violence.
In Franklin Township, the warning was less of a secret.
Schools Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. said rumors had
been around for weeks, and he'd heard from parents about
them. On Sept. 20, a police chief told him some basic
information about the disc. "But there's still a sense of
frustration in not knowing, wanting some answers," Scavelli
said.
Authorities were forced to explain after news of the
warning hit television news Thursday. They said the state
was already in the middle of a push to improve
anti-terrorism procedures at all New Jersey schools. The
experience of the last few weeks has hastened that effort,
they said.
Staff writers Tom Feeney and John Mooney and the
Associated Press contributed to this report.
© 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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