Have we ever NOT been at Homeland Security Threat Level Orange?

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by goof2

As I posted above the threat level moves around. It hasn't just stayed at orange.

The public in general may be the least prepared, but they are the ones in the best position to do something about it.

In the early 90s in England you didn't leave your bags unattended and if you saw an unattended bag you reported it. That was because unattended bags at that point had a nasty habit of blowing up. The first line of defense against this was the public.

Fortunately (due to the lack of incidents) Americans have not had to develop this vigilance. If the situation changes I hope we are capable of adapting.

I looked at your link to the DHS timeline, and with a few exceptions, most of the threats were so vague, they were of no value to the average citizen. "We received intelligence that terrorists may be planning attacks somewhere in the US, around the holidays". OK, so, what, you want I should wear a hat today? What am I supposed to do with that information? Tell me what the fucking guy looks like, and I'll keep an eye out for him.

I think Homeslice is right. They have to look like they're doing something, so they made a chart. I'm not discounting the others measures they're taking, but a chart? Charts scare me. In my experience, when people have no fucking clue what to do next, they start making charts.

I don't disagree that the average American has a low degree of situational awareness. This isn't Israel, or the UK in the 70's. Shit, we can even concentrate on driving down the freeway without fucking it up. All the charts in the world aren't going to make up for that.

JC