Too Yellow to Go Orange?

It didn't make sense last week that Homeland Security did not go to Code Orange in the wake of terrorist attacks against Americans in Saudi Arabia. Now that we have a fresh FBI warning that al Qaeda may strike again in the U.S. the code system is revealed to be a farce.

"The U.S. intelligence community assesses that attacks against U.S. and Western targets overseas are likely; attacks in the United States cannot be ruled out," said an FBI bulletin sent to state and local law enforcement and leaked to the press. Nothing like keepin' the public fully informed. Worse, we are likely stuck with a full-fledged propaganda office until the end of time.

Comments

[trainwreck]

I know when it goes yellow the local federal agency office I frequent, an office and shop complex with about 20 employees, places painted wooden plywood signs out that say, "No Parking within 75 Feet of Building", and also some orange traffic cones. That should be pretty effective in warning any would-be terrorists not to mess with the Feds, but I worry that terrorists with a car bomb might consider themselves to be "stopping", rather than "parking" and they won't obey the signs. We were also told by the Feds that they implemented other security measures, but we aren't allowed to be told just what they are.

[beenthere]

Poor Tom Ridge, his scripted comments on the Hill today about us being safer today than any day since 9/11 looks really really transparant - he went to the WH and promptly raised the threat level.

[Warren]

Warning system from terrorist POV:

Warning level raised - Extra security measures enacted, resulting in harassment and inconvenience of population, substantial economic burden, and general fear and paranoia. Mission Accomplished.

Warning level lowered - Laxation of security measures resulting in improved opportunities for successful terrorist attack.

Warning level unchanged - HA HA HA HA HA

[Croesus]

Does anyone take these warnings seriously? I don't.

[joe]

I take them seriously. Whenever the code goes above yellow, Congress will introduce (or vote on) a bill to expand the police state, or the military will bomb the shit out of some far off country.

[Anonymous]

cart

before

horse

[Sean]

The quote given says that attacks in this country can't be ruled out, this would be the case even if we were at green. While the attacks overseas have been troubling, they have been overseas. If you really want to be safe, why not just suggest we go to red and keep it there indefinitely?

The jump from yellow to orange has reprecussions beyond just increased security. Not only do individuals reduce and avoid travel and recreation, but various local govt., businesses and school districts have made this the standard rule when the threat level goes to orange. It hurts the economy. Is this a reason it shouldn't be done if necessary? No, if you think that's what I said, you're wrong, read this three more times. But just because a few individuals without the benefit of NSA intercepts say, "Go to orange now, or it's all a joke!" doesn't mean it should be changed.

[Lefty]

A national alert system is not workable. It's like if there's a tornado warning in Omaha, folks in New York City are supposed to go to the basement. I think there are now three states (Utah, Montana and Hawaii) that are on the record to ignore the national warnings. They say the cost of upping the security procedures is not worth it.

They need to localize these warnings to make them believable.

[Ron Hardin]

I'd look at using three dimensional warnings based on the primary colors, say red for actual danger, blue for entertainment value, and yellow for national anxiety level. Then all three could be combined in a nuanced single color, and sensible debates could be had over whether only the entertainment value and anxiety are changing, even though the danger is fixed. Studies could be done whether entertainment value correlates with anxiety; does this well-known effect indicate two populations under study, say men and women? A fruitful possibility. Condition pink.

[Thomas Luedeke]

The whole warning system is ludicrous, and designed to provide an excuse for eventuality when the government _again_ fails its primary mission - defending the country. The system will never be green because if something happens, the pols cannot be seen as not having anticipating it. It will also never be red, because the pols cannot be seen as not accomplishing anything.

They ought to just set it at halfway between orange and yellow and never change it. I'll let someone else do the RGB analysis and decide on an appropriate color.

[David]

Agreed--the system is far from perfect. However...

Do any of you have better ideas? And I ask sincerely.

[Anonymous]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aDxAcYVUxIKI&refer=us

---
The U.S. terrorism threat indicator is likely to be raised to its second-highest level within days because of increased signals terrorist groups are planning attacks in the U.S. or against U.S. interests abroad, two administration officials said.

[Rachel Pickworth]

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DATE: 01/25/2004 11:05:41
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