The Sixth Estate

This past week saw another round of WikiLeaks cables released. Few of them seem to have relevance to Canada, but we do (once again) show up on a Secret list of terrorist targets around the world.

The list is a document that American diplomats prepare and circulate annually, and when some other versions appeared in the past, the leak was denounced as endangering lives. I disagree. The contents of this list are strategic resources. Terrorists do not attack militarily strategic resources: they aim to produce an emotional and political response, not a military one.

In the meantime, on the dubious assumption that these are terrorist targets, than releasing the list harms no one: they either were targeting them already, or they were not. If not, everything on the list is a public facility, so they scarcely need the Americans to identify targets for them. People living in proximity can now be aware that, in the judgement of the American government, they may be at risk.

The list is classified SECRET/NOFORN. This means that it is Secret and is not to be shared with foreign nationals (like me). The State Department directed its employees to identify “infrastructure and resources in each host country whose loss could immediately affect the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States.”

British Columbia

• Alliance Pipeline
• Maple Ridge – E-ONE Moli Energy
• Mica Dam
• Seven Mile Dam
• Waneta Dam

Prairies

• Winnipeg – Plasma Sanofi Pasteur

Ontario

• Amherstburg – Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility, Allied Signal
• Chalk River Nuclear Facility
• Darlington Nuclear Power Plant
• London – General Dynamics Land Systems
• Midland – Raytheon Systems Canada, ELCAN Optical Technologies Division
• Pickering Nuclear Power Plant
• Robert Moses/Robert H. Saunders Power, in the St. Lawrence Power Project
• Toronto – GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals

Quebec

• James Bay Power Project
• Montreal – Thales Optronique Canada
• Niobec Mine
• Quebec – Influenza vaccines (unspecified location)

Maritimes

• Enbridge Pipeline
• Halifax – Hibernia undersea cable landing
• Maritime and Northeast Pipeline

In addition to the above, all major points of entry along the border are also considered potential terrorist targets.