FBI Disputes Reports of Terrorists in San Diego

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has challenged comments by Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) that terrorists are operating in the San Diego area.

A spokesman for Cunningham said Friday that the freshman congressman recently attended several briefings on terrorism and was told that 50 or more terrorists are operating in the United States, including the San Diego area.

“These are sources of information that the congressman cannot divulge,” said spokesman Frank Purcell. “The congressman wants to ensure that everyone in San Diego and everywhere observe basic safety precautions.”

Ronald G. Orrantia, a spokesman for the FBI in San Diego, denied the presence of terrorists here.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s not true,” he said. “The FBI is concerned that what comes out is accurate. My whole concern is that we do not unduly alarm the public.”

Nevertheless, Orrantia said, the FBI is “very concerned about any possible terrorist attacks in the area and is asking the public to be alert. We do have the primary responsibility as far as terrorist activity goes.”

As U.S. forces continued to pummel Iraqi targets Friday, San Diego police reported an upsurge in bomb threats and hate calls to Jews and Iraqis at their homes. In a four-hour period Friday morning, 10 bomb threats were phoned into police headquarters.

On Thursday, the department reported about a dozen bomb threats, including threats at the Amtrak station in downtown San Diego, at Mercy Hospital, at a condo complex on Front Street and at the Federal Building. No bombs were found.

The department usually gets fewer than five such calls a day.

Members of the Metro Arson Strike Team investigated four bomb threats in the past two days. On Thursday, they found an empty large metal drum at the County Courthouse, a waterlogged pipe bomb in the bay off Shelter Island Drive and a device that turned out not to be a bomb at a bar on Kettner Boulevard.

On Friday morning , authorities arrested a 13-year-old boy at Roosevelt Junior High School for planting a homemade “hoax device that was meant to look like an explosive” at the school, according to Capt. Larry Carlson.

Carlson said it is a felony to manufacture an explosive, real or fake.

Five Fallbrook schools received bomb threats Friday, according to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Four of the calls were placed by the same man within 10 minutes, who said that bombs had been put at James E. Potter Junior High School, Maie Ellis School, Fallbrook Street School and La Paloma School. None were found.

At the fifth, Fallbrook High School, Sheriff’s deputies discovered a small package wrapped in white butcher paper on the principal’s desk. It was later found to be filled with school supplies.

Early Friday morning, Oceanside police arrested a man in a store who claimed to have a bomb in his briefcase, but the threat turned out to be false. “This rash of bomb threats happen every time there’s a major bombing in the U.S. or another country,” said Sgt. Conrad Grayson, unit commander of the San Diego Sheriff’s bomb and arson squad. “We always see a lot of copycats. These are people who get a thrill, or a sense of power, out of making these threats.”

Despite rising tensions and the high number of residents of Iraqi descent in San Diego, the San Diego Police Department has no plans to add officers to its intelligence team, which is responsible for investigating signs of terrorism.

“It’s hard to beef up when you’re stretched so thin,” said Deputy Chief Manny Guaderrama. “Right now, we’re using our manpower on (protest) demonstrations. We’re quietly prepared, but it’s nothing overt. We’re keeping our people well-informed and prepared, but we’re not being paranoid.”

The Harbor Police handles security at Lindbergh Field and is enforcing a plan to thwart terrorist acts by prohibiting airport passengers from parking their cars in front of the terminal or checking luggage at the curbs. Capt. Martin Hight said the office has not experienced an increase in bomb threats.

“My personal view is that I don’t think San Diego has been identified as an area that is threatened any more than any other U.S. city,” Hight said.

Military bases heightened security Thursday, scrutinizing motorists entering the bases and inspecting carry-on luggage. In addition, military personnel were told to be cautious when wearing their uniforms in public.

Guaderrama said the San Diego police have no plan to increase patrols in neighborhoods where Iraqis live.

“We have a lot of Middle Eastern people in San Diego and its outlying cities,” he said. “But there is no way we can provide them all the protection they’d like to have.”