Homeland security important outside metros, says officalColorado’s fruit and wine country seems an unlikely target of terrorism, but the state’s rural settings deserve no less federal support than metro areas when it comes to protecting Coloradans against a terrorist strike, a top state administrator said Wednesday.
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A 10-county region of northwest Colorado that includes Mesa County received more than $2.1 million in federal anti-terrorism assistance in 2005. Critics argue some of that Homeland Security spending would be better spent on such obvious targets as ports and high-profile cities with high-traffic borders.
But risk is in the eye of the beholder, Beasley said, and that’s why Colorado takes an “all-hazards” approach to defending its isolated mountain towns as well as its densely-populated hubs. Communities, large or small, that are prepared to handle any hazard, whether it’s natural or human-caused, are better prepared to handle a terrorist strike, he said.
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“New York City is clearly a bigger target than Steamboat (Springs), if you’re thinking al Qaida,” Vale said.
“If you’re thinking Tim McVeigh, what’s the difference?"