FBI PREPARES FOR GOP

If the Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared,” the best Boy Scouts must grow up to be FBI agents. Already, the Dallas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is gearing up for the 1984 Republican National Convention to be held in Dallas. And it’s preparing for the worst.

Between now and early spring, the FBI will begin what Dallas FBI Agent-In-Charge Thomas Kelly calls “special training sessions.” Basically, they’re war games in the form of mock terrorist attacks. In the upcoming “attacks,” Kelly says out-of-state FBI agents will come to Dallas to act as “terrorists” and “hostages.” The local agents will test their skills in rescue techniques. Another group of agents who have been specially trained in psychology, negotiation and the fine art of not getting people excited, will be on hand as “hostage negotiators.”

Another possible FBI plan is to establish what Kelly calls a “command post” at the convention site. But agent Calvin Shishido, who is with the FBI’s National Headquarters, says the FBI won’t give out information on the number of agents covering an event or on their plans for coverage. That information, he says, is “classified.” He also says he doesn’t think the FBI is even planning to become involved in the convention at all.

According to Kelly, the FBI will probably get some assistance for the convention from the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriffs Office and the Se-cret Service. Secret Service Special Agent Mary Ann Gordon says her organization is “not interested in making any comment” on the convention, but that she has heard that “something like that [the mock attacks] was going on” and that the Secret Service is not involved.

“Any time you have something of prominence, there’s a chance for terrorist attacks,” Kelly says. “But do we have any intelligence to indicate that there will be a problem? Absolutely not. We prepare for the worst.”