en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:30:21 GMT 15 By Dan Panicucci
Do you remember the Terror Alert system? You know, the color coded system telling us when to get paranoid over potential terrorist attacks? Well I realized that I haven’t seen anything on the news lately telling us what level we are currently on. It was a big deal the first time it came out, everyone was buying duct tape and batteries and barricading themselves in their basements. Over time though, it just faded out of our minds. Everyone lost interest. Well I decided to do a bit of research on our current Terror Alert level, and what it has been in the past. The Terror Alert system (or the Homeland Security Advisory System as it is formally called) is a five level scale that lets the country know the current risk of a terrorist attack. The levels are color codes and are labeled as red for severe, orange for high, yellow for elevated, blue for guarded and green for low. The system was established about six months after the September 11th bombings, starting off at terror alert orange. Since then, the terror alert level has been yellow most of the time, only elevating to orange at a nationwide level four times. The last time that happened was in the holiday season of 2004-05. The latest change to the terror alert level was after the London bombings in the summer of 2005, but only subways and other transportation systems were considered to have a high risk of terrorist attack. The Terror Alert level has never gone down to blue or green, and never as high as red. What puzzles me is that this country has been at an elevated to a high risk of terrorism attacks for more than four years. Is our country in such turmoil that we need to be on the edge of our seats, just waiting for a terrorist attack? Never once in four years have we been at a low risk of a terrorist attack. We haven’t even moved down to blue! At the 2006 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush said “We are seeing new competitors, like China and India, and this creates uncertainty, which makes it easier to feed people’s fears.” Well guess what else feeds peoples fears; the government telling us to constantly watch our backs for terrorists! The Terror Alert level should always be at blue for guarded, because the word guarded gives a sense of defiance and strength, and will give comfort to the American people. ]]> Fri, 12 May 2006 01:59:00 GMT