NewsMine — propoganda — terror-threats — 2003 — Viewing Item

New guidelines terror alerts { September 15 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.iht.com/articles/109900.html http://www.iht.com/articles/109900.html Copyright © 2003 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com U.S. revamps rules in terrorism alerts Philip Shenon NYT Monday, September 15, 2003 WASHINGTON The Bush administration's color-coded terrorism alert system, which has been harshly criticized by counterterrorism specialists and much of the public, is being revamped to make it far more difficult for the government to justify raising the threat level, according to senior administration officials. Under revisions made in recent weeks, they said, the Department of Homeland Security has set new, tougher internal guidelines for raising the threat levels. They said the alert level - which is now at yellow, representing an "elevated" threat and the midpoint in the five-color palette of alerts - would be raised only if there was credible, detailed evidence of an imminent terrorist attack on American soil, a more stringent threshold than in the past. The officials cited the new guidelines in explaining why the administration had decided not to raise the alert level last week despite a pair of events that could have justified a heightened alert in the past: the anniversary on Thursday of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the broadcast of a new videotape suggesting that Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant were alive and were plotting new attacks. A year ago, on the eve of the first anniversary of the attacks, the level was raised from yellow to orange, representing a "high risk" of terrorism, after intelligence analysts warned that Al Qaeda would use the anniversary to strike domestic targets. The anniversary passed without incident. The color-coded system, introduced in March 2002, has been criticized for having unnecessarily confused and alarmed the public. In a meeting with reporters this month, Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, said the new, higher threshold for raising the alerts reflected a belief that the nation was better prepared to deal with terrorist threats. The New York Times Copyright © 2003 The International Herald Tribune

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