Cities Vulnerable To Terror:
By Stuart Glascock
NYC, New Orleans and . . . Boise?
People in Boise, Idaho, have taken pride in favorable lifestyle rankings their city has picked up recently: No. 2 on Forbes’ best places for business and careers; No. 9 on Inc.com’s hottest cities for entrepreneurs; No. 1 National Geographic adventure town; and No. 8 on Money magazine’s best places to live.
But one title startled and baffled nearly everyone: city most vulnerable to terrorism in the Western United States.
In a study funded by the Homeland Security
Department, Idaho’s state capital was the only Western city in the top 10 among 132 urban centers ranked by vulnerability based on a unique mathematical calculation.
The top five seemed logical: big cities with exposed ports and bridges. The list reads like a who’s who of Eastern and Southern port cities: New Orleans; Baton Rouge, La.; Charleston, S.C.; New York City-Newark, N.J.; and Norfolk, Va.
Not a single West Coast city, from Seattle to San Diego, raised more than an eyebrow
