On a typical July day in Las Vegas County, there was a music festival, a visit from the Vice President of the United States and a U.S. Mayors Conference. That’s in addition to the “regular” happenings in the Las Vegas metro area, which houses 18 of the largest 23 hotels in the world, 39.7 million visitors a year, 21,615 conventions and gaming revenue that totals more than $15 billion.
Las Vegas city and Clark County Sheriff Douglas C. Gillespie relies heavily on one public-private partnership in particular – the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center (SNCTC) – on days such as this one. Founded after the events of 9/11, the center collects raw intelligence that resides at the state and local level and passes to the National Intelligence Community (IC) for analysis. Without SNCTC acting as conduit for transferring critical information, the nation’s ability to “connect the dots” and prevent a catastrophic attack from occurring is greatly inhibited.