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U.S. Response: Terror Alerts Meet With More Indifference Extended terrorism warnings issued by the U.S. Homeland Security Department risk causing a “crying wolf syndrome” in which U.S. residents and security forces could reduce their wariness, according to terrorism experts. The department established its five color alert system last year that has mostly remained on “yellow,” or “elevated,” with brief periods at “orange,” which denotes a high risk of a terrorist attack (see GSN, June 2). Although five levels of alert are possible, in practice only two, yellow and orange, can be used regularly, said Randall Larsen, a senior fellow at the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security. The highest level, “red,” or “severe,” could only be used if an attack is under way, and the lowest two levels are politically impractical, Larsen said. During the most recent orange alert that ended last week, many security agencies did not respond with the same measures they used in earlier orange alerts, according to the Christian Science Monitor. In Washington, for example, the U.S. Capitol and the sidewalk in front of the White House remained open, and local police officers did not work overtime shifts, the Monitor reported. Similarly, Sacramento, Calif., Police Department spokesman Justin Risly said his department does not take any automatic steps when the federal alert level changes. “The bottom line for us is, unless we have a specific threat, we don’t do much of anything differently,” he said. “Here’s the difficulty: One color code is trying to give us too much information,” said Larsen. “If we go from yellow to orange, the threat of an attack is higher. But is that the threat of a small car bomb or a nuclear weapon? I’m going to worry about one much more than the other,” he added. “For cities, everyone’s pretty much freelancing on responses, based on the risk assessment in their own community,” said New Haven, Conn., Mayor John DiStefano (Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor, June 3).
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