Blasé about Terror Alerts

[zakur]

In orange terror alerts, wary cities hold back

When U.S. officials first used a color-coded system to issue a national terrorism alert last September, Phoenix police fell in line with virtually all city and state law enforcement agencies.
"We went full bore," Police Chief Harold Hurtt says of Phoenix's response to the Code Orange alert, which indicated there was a high risk of an attack. "We put people on 12-hour shifts, canceled time off. We put people everywhere." Officers guarded power plants and a gasoline supply depot, and security was increased at Bank One Ballpark, the retractable-roof baseball stadium where the Arizona Diamondbacks play.

But by the time U.S. officials had relaxed the threat level two weeks later, Hurtt had concluded that absent a direct threat to Phoenix, his department couldn't afford to jump every time officials in Washington, D.C., said to do so. Since the inception of the Alert system back in 2001, the nation has gone to the second highest orange alert four times.


Now, a growing number of city and state officials are following Hurtt's lead. Plagued by tight budgets and fatigued officers — and still frustrated by a lack of specific information from the U.S. government about threats — officials nationwide are cutting back their responses to federal terrorism alerts.

Some officials, questioning the value of the federal alerts, are designing their own regional warning systems that kick into gear only when there is a specific threat to their area.

[...]

But beyond Washington, D.C., and New York, the U.S. cities that have been at the top of al-Qaeda's hit list, the sense of urgency that followed the September alert is evaporating. For many law enforcement officials, the nationwide alerts have been unfocused scrambles, a guessing game over what to guard based on slivers of information of unknown reliability.

"There is broad consensus that the (federal alert) system just isn't effective," Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske says. "It isn't working."

We are now at ORANGE, BTW. Since the inception of the Alert system back in 2001, the nation has gone to the second highest orange alert four times.

 

[ZeeGerman]

We are now at ORANGE, BTW. Since the inception of the Alert system back in 2001, the nation has gone to the second highest orange alert four times.

Maybe they should broadcast those old "Duck and Cover" pieces again. Could be done on low budget and is just as effective.



Zee

 

[arcticpenguin]

Have sales of duct tape and plastic sheeting leveled off yet? I need to do some painting soon and will need to buy dropcloths. I hope they're not too pricey.

 

[mgidm86]

These federal alerts are a little silly I think. Just because the government feels that there is a heightened risk doesn't mean the entire nation has to be freaked out. Maybe they should tell us why alerts are given so that we may better assess the risk ourselves. Otherwise it helps no one, at least it doesn't help me. Perhaps the government just wants to keep us scared so we'll allow them to do whatever the hell they want to us. Oh yes, please protect me from the evil terrorists!

So uh, where are all the terrorists hiding? Is anyone here actually afraid of a terrorist attack? Does a Yellow or Red Alert change the way you live? I mean, yes more terrorist attacks are all but certain at some point, but the odds are so incredible that it will "happen to you" that I'm not sure it's worth being concerned about, on a personal level anyways. Now, if I were in Israel, which is a whole lot smaller than the U.S., I might be more concerned in my day to day activities.

Terrorism is a real threat to the world and should not be ignored, but the U.S. government seems to be insisting that we fear terrorism and change our entire lifestyles over it. I'm not quite buying it, at least not at this point, but keep trying!

ArcticPenguin:
I saw some drop cloths on eBay...

 

[blackpriester]

These federal alerts are a little silly I think. Just because the government feels that there is a heightened risk doesn't mean the entire nation has to be freaked out. Maybe they should tell us why alerts are given so that we may better assess the risk ourselves. Otherwise it helps no one, at least it doesn't help me. Perhaps the government just wants to keep us scared so we'll allow them to do whatever the hell they want to us. Oh yes, please protect me from the evil terrorists!

So uh, where are all the terrorists hiding? Is anyone here actually afraid of a terrorist attack? Does a Yellow or Red Alert change the way you live? I mean, yes more terrorist attacks are all but certain at some point, but the odds are so incredible that it will "happen to you" that I'm not sure it's worth being concerned about, on a personal level anyways. Now, if I were in Israel, which is a whole lot smaller than the U.S., I might be more concerned in my day to day activities.

Terrorism is a real threat to the world and should not be ignored, but the U.S. government seems to be insisting that we fear terrorism and change our entire lifestyles over it. I'm not quite buying it, at least not at this point, but keep trying!

ArcticPenguin:
I saw some drop cloths on eBay...

Thank you, you guys restore my faith that the "old" America will come back. i wonder what Rikzilla say about this... in another thread, we "agreed to disagree" on thge most likely explanation for the "alert system": he thought it was th real McCoy, i thought it more likely to be designed to make us "look the other way" while BushCo demolishes our civil rights.

- m.

 

[Gregor]

Why the alert system?

It's the current temperament in our country to never be second guessed. People adopt the most extreme responses these days to all stimulus to avoid being second-guessed later on. In my opinion its an offshoot of our extraordinarily litigious society.

Could the 9/11 attacks reoccur? Not likely. Let's assume that all airport security today went back to pre 9/11 days, and people took knives and box cutters on a plane. Even in that event, the crashes would never re-occur.

If today anyone stood up on a plane with a box cutter or knife, do you think there's any way the person gets to the cockpit door, let alone high-jacks the plane and flies it for 30 minutes?

We should change the name of the department from Homeland Security to the Department of Unnecessary Overreaction. No one outside of an extremely limited group of emergency personnel alters their activities when we're at a heightened state of alert - nor do they need to.