October 24, 2002

4:27 PM

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the Office of Homeland Security threat level remained at the ambient yellow level troughout the sniper situation. I would think actually killing would warrant something at least as high as vague threats before the anniversary of September 11.
posted by shagoth (6 comments total)

who cares what it's at? it's all a crock of shit anyway. scare mechanism of the rich and powerful.
posted by quonsar at 4:32 PM on October 24, 2002

I've come up with a new color scheme for their warning "system:"

Unattainable goal of 100% safety that we have already admitted we will never, ever reach - Green

We've recently detonated nuclear weapons in all countries that oppose us, leaving the North America the only continent capable of supporting human life - Blue

We're covering our collective asses because we have noticed that 19 men with boxcutters and some guy with a rifle are a force too powerful to be reckoned with using the $343 billion military that we spent half your tax money on - Yellow

Some wealthy, politically connected Americans have had their lives threatened, and we are fucking pissed - Orange

You would never be able to find out what the fucking threat level is, because our fragile fiber_optic_backbone-based communications infrastructure has been utterly demolished - Red


I'll be here all week, folks...
posted by zekinskia at 4:45 PM on October 24, 2002

According to Newsweek:

As a White House official explains, “We don’t have the operational ability to do it”--to stay at such a high level of readiness and counterterror threats.

Translation: America doesn’t have the resources to take on the threats it’s hearing about, much less the ones it doesn’t yet know about.

The way I heard it was it would cost too much to be on orange indefinitely--that means more Coast Guard patrols, etc.

Also, orange is a really hard color to coordinate your wardrobe with.
posted by TheManWhoKnowsMostThings at 4:48 PM on October 24, 2002

I thought that a "clear credible threat" was supposed to result in an Orange Alert. So then why doesn't "a possible attack soon against transportation systems, particularly railroads" qualify? Why is it important enough to release a warning, but not important enough to use the rainbow of terror mechanism, which was supposed to have been designed for this purpose?

Or is this some more alarmist claptrap?
posted by ilsa at 4:51 PM on October 24, 2002

The rumors of this thread's demise have been greatly understated.
posted by signal at 4:51 PM on October 24, 2002

One sniper at loose in the US (pop. 288,352,425). About 5 homicides happen per week in DC anyway. Surely the US should be on permanent red alert, at least until all offensive weapons at large in society are handed in during a national amnesty (joke.)

Does anyone really think that this story has merited one jot of the media attention it's been getting? The chances of being shot by the sniper were probably about the same as being electrocuted via your keyboard while posting to MetaFilter due to a freak voltage surge and a loose < keycap.

In any case, they've got him now (or so they would have us believe.)
posted by cbrody at 5:04 PM on October 24, 2002