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opinion:
our view
Warning system
getting silly
The government unveiled a new five colored terrorist warning
system last week which they hope will make it easier for citizens
and law enforcement to better understand the height of alert
the nation is at.
Tom Ridge, director of the White House Office of Homeland
Security, revealed the new system that grades the chance of
attack on a scale from green to red. The United States is
currently on yellow or elevated threat.
The government was hoping that this new system would be easier
to understand for local governments and average citizens but
we think it hasn't been much of a change.
Following Sept. 11, the government continued to move the nation
to higher states of the highest states of alert. Local police
officials were sometimes dumbfounded, wondering how they could
put their officers at any higher states of alert than they
already were at.
Color coding the level of threat is not changing much. If
we are on yellow now, what differences will there be if we
move up to orange or down to blue? The noticeable differences
will be miniscule to the average American.
The biggest problem with the color coding system is that Ridge
has not only been vague as to what exactly each color means
but he is leaving any response to color changes up to state
and local governments.
The Los Angeles city government may react much differently
than New York City government and both will react differently
than officials in Bozeman, Montana. This will only create
a sense of confusion among the entire country.
What the United States needs to do is be up front and honest
with the American people. If there is a viable threat to the
safety of American citizens, the government must inform the
people of this country as to what exactly the threat is.
Is it possible there could be a panic? Of course, but it is
also highly possible that releasing information about an attack
could deter would be attackers from carrying out their deed.
Americans are very likely to become immune to the color-coded
terrorist warnings. When the government continually heightened
the country's state of alert and nothing happened, many people
stopped paying attention. This kind of immunity to threats
must be avoided at all cost.
Americans should not be living in fear but at the same time
we should not be living completely oblivious to the possibilities
of attacks on our country.
We think that government should be more honest with the American
people whose interests may be at risk. The current attempts
at soothing misinformation will only prove to further hurt
the United States.
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