Correct.

Who is in the charge? :confused: Is that Congress or Secretary Department of Homeland Security? I think TSA/DHS will be reduction terror alert goes back to yellow/elevated. Its should getting better for those days.

TSA doesn't need either of those things to look incompetent.

Reminds me of something Gallagher always used to say during his comedy routines: If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress?

Or Mark Twain: "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

Which, sadly, shows things have been bad for a long time.

I was at a meeting the other day with a top deputy in DHS - I left with the impression that he - and his colleagues - really have no clue. No clue about how things are working, no clue about the ineffectiveness, no clue about the rest of the world. He was surprised to hear how efficient the UK Iris system is compared to either Registered Traveler or the various US ICE programs. He thought things were working well because the bureaucrats can say they're doing something to protect us.

All of us at the meeting left shaking our heads. There is simply no knowledge and no experience at the top of the agency. (scratch head) What was it again that rolls downhill? (scratch head) :rolleyes:

Incorrect.

Never say never....

Not sure what YOUR news source is but the threat advisory nationwide is at YELLOW which represents an elevated risk of attacks.

http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/progra...ease_0046.shtm

Only in specified cities like in NYC, on domestic and int'l flights, and some major mass transit systems have a security risk of orange. And speaking as someone who lives in a city with a perpetual higher threat level than nationwide, well imagine this, life goes on as smoothly as it did prior to the Islamic terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. We are not a bunch of whiners. We've lived through much worse than selectively random bag checks at scattered subway stations. Geeez! :D

I think many of you are missing the fact that it's not the entire country that's at Orange...just airports. The rest of the country is at Yellow. Airports will probably stay at Orange+ for a long time to come. Orange isn't in the middle; its 4 on a scale of 5.

And above (below ?) all, no clue about security.

OK, I'll rephrase the question...

Why is the country apparently at threat level yellow and every airport with signage and announcements at threat level orange?

and here's a bonus question...

is the threat level indicator useful, or does it simply provide more opportunities for comedy writers in countries near and far to take the pi$$?

Doesn't anyone read anymore? You want to understand the permanent "Orange" threat level? Just read Orwell's 1984, and the reasoning why it is necessary to keep society in a permanent state of war. Cheney, Rove and Chertoff understand this, just as Hitler and Goebbels did.

Along with the slightly cynical reasons already listed (which I agree with ;) ) such as maintaining both the budget and the fear factor, there's a further, practical reason. The "triggers" for going to a higher state of alert are fairly obvious - an attack or a credible threat of attack, for example. The "triggers" for lowering the alert level are not obvious but they must be defined when raising the alert. If they had to go to orange for airports in August 06 (which is dubious at best, BTW), they should have said, "we will be at orange UNTIL [something measurable]." UNTIL August 07. Or UNTIL eighteen months without an attack. Or UNTIL the verdict in the London Trial. But they didn't define an end-condition for orange. Nor have they defined an end-condition for yellow in the rest of the country, so that's likely to remain unchanged.

Analogy: Every year my company sends out an email that says "budget is screwed, no more travel/purchases UNTIL the next financial year." The only variable is whether we get that email in February or late April. It's bad planning and bad management and all sorts of stupid but at least we know that the "heightened alert" will end on 1 July.

Not completely unrelated: a year or so ago, I read that some company (GM?? - probably more than one) put an enormous American flag down the side of their building right after 9/11. The flag is now torn to tatters by the elements and is a nuisance to the people inside the building, but the management is afraid to take it down since that would be seen as "unpatriotic." They didn't define an end-condition. If they'd said "we'll fly this flag for a year" or something, they could gracefully remove it with a little ceremony and get on with life. Same debate over a huge flag in Grand Central station, I believe.

Moral: before you get into something, think about how you're going to get out.

As was alluded to in a previous post, the national threat level is "yellow", but the 'threat level in the aviation sector' is "orange".

I'm not saying I agree with either assessment (I don't), but the fact that the aviation sector is assessed separately is why every airport with signage shows "orange".

Let's all be honest... does it really make a rat's rectum of a difference what colour the DHS light pole is? It could be purple & swollen, but it honestly doesn't change Americans' lives. It's already been well-established that DHS/TSA are going to continue to haraSSSS U.S. citizens regardless of what colour DHS' pole may be.

Happy Halloween :p