Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Were you confused?

Posted on USAToday.com this morning:
"The Department of Homeland Security is unveiling its new two-level terror alert system today, replacing the often confusing color-coded version...in effect since 9/11."
I can't, for the life of me, figure out what was so confusing about the five-level system we'd been living with for ten years. In reality it was only a three-tier system anyway -- we'll never again see a blue day or even a green moment. The two lowest levels were invented for people who still believe there's such a thing as safety.

So next week we'll have two levels -- Elevated and Imminent -- because too many Americans couldn't count to three, even with pretty colors.

DHS reportedly is forming a "counter-terrorism advisory board" that'll meet within 30 minutes of uncovering a threat. In this alert-by-committee scheme, a public warning must be issued within two hours. Ambitious, sure, but there's more:
"An individual threat alert is issued for a specific time period and then automatically expires. It may be extended if new information becomes available or the threat evolves."
That gem, set forth in the bureaucratic dialect, is the so-called "Sunset Provision" -- yet another artifice for a simple-minded populace that prefers its warnings, like cottage cheese, to have expiration dates. (See also "exit strategy.")

Those of us who cultivate a preparedness mindset won't be leaning too hard on any DHS system -- living color or monochrome, two levels or two hundred. It's but one of many voices informing our choices.

Independence isn't easily confused. Liberty trusts experience over decree. We operate from a continuum of vigilance that the masses never will understand.