U.S. Response:  Ridge Announces New Public Information Campaign

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday announced a new public relations campaign to provide information to U.S. residents on the best ways to prepare for a possible terrorist attack.

The department’s $1.2 million effort includes a new Web site, www.ready.gov; a toll-free information line, 1-800 BE READY; public service announcements broadcast on radio and television stations; roadside billboards; and a brochure to be distributed in the mail, according to the New York Times.

Homeland Security also has recommended that each U.S. family prepare an emergency supply kit with supplies of food and water, flashlights, battery-powered radios and warm clothing; as well as a family emergency plan so family members know how to contact each other in the event of an attack, the Times reported. 

“We can be afraid, or we can be ready,” Ridge said before a crowd of police officers, firefighters and service volunteers in Cincinnati, Ohio.  “Today, America’s families declare, we will not be afraid and we will be ready.” he added.

To prepare the campaign, U.S. officials used focus groups that found people preferred simple messages.

“People said they wanted a straightforward, just-the-facts approach,” said Peggy Conlon, president and chief executive of the Advertising Council, which helped develop the campaign.  “People wanted information boiled down to real actionable steps that families can take,” she added.

Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), who drafted much of the legislation creating the Homeland Security Department, offered tentative praise for the new information campaign.

“I think the public will find a coordinated information campaign far more useful than spot press conferences,” Lieberman said.  “In fact, I encourage Secretary Ridge to go on network television and talk us through the realities and possibilities of the current Code Orange threat,” he added (Lynette Clemetson, New York Times, Feb. 20).

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Threat Assessment:  U.S. Could Lower Threat Level Soon

U.S. Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge suggested Sunday that the current “orange” threat level of terrorist attack could be lowered shortly (see GSN, Feb. 7).

“Today, as we speak, because we review the information and our intelligence on a day-to-day basis, we maintain it at the orange level, but that could change within 24 to 48 hours,” Ridge said on CNN’s Late Edition.

“Although some [intelligence reports] may have faded in terms of accuracy or relevance, there is still enough out there for today for us to remain on an orange level,” Ridge said.

Recent reports have questioned the accuracy of information used to increase the threat level from “yellow” (see GSN, Feb. 14; David Johnston, New York Times, Feb. 17).

“(We) realized that some of the information we acted upon … from time to time does not prove to be as accurate as we thought it was,” Ridge said.  “One of the problems associated with the intelligence community is you don’t always have easy access to the sources of information you are acting on,” he added.

The threat of terrorist attack may also have declined somewhat with the end of last week’s hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, according to the Los Angeles Times (David Willman, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17).

WMD Threats Detailed

Meanwhile, federal officials have been issuing security advisories to state and local law enforcement agencies describing the possible threat of bioterrorism.  The FBI and Homeland Security Department have provided information about the types of biological and chemical weapons they believe al-Qaeda has obtained and tested.

“Information indicates the group has experimented with procedures for making blister (mustard) and nerve (sarin and VX) chemical agents,” according to one advisory.

Other advisories cautioned that WMD attacks could be conducted at multiple sites in a coordinated fashion (John Solomon, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb. 16).

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U.S. Response:  Alert Based on Fear of Two Attacks

The United States last week raised the national threat level to “orange” because of intelligence indicating al-Qaeda plans and efforts to launch a major attack inside the United States and another on the Arabian Peninsula, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 7).

Intelligence officials were concerned that al-Qaeda operatives had moved into place to carry out logistical or operational work connected to planned attacks, according to the Times.

“One of the reasons taken into consideration in moving to orange was the concern that al-Qaeda was moving from the planning stages to going operational,” a Bush administration official said.  “It is why we need to do more, to deploy more assets and physical barriers, because we are more concerned about the potential for attack,” the official said.

Intelligence officials are still not sure if the plots involve conventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction (James Risen, New York Times, Feb. 14).

Some Intelligence Flawed

A vital piece of intelligence that led to recent alerts, however, was fabricated, ABCNews.com reported.

A captured al-Qaeda member gave law enforcement officials a detailed description of a plot to attack Washington, New York or Florida with a radiological weapons this week but officials now doubt the story after giving the prisoner a polygraph test after U.S. officials raised the alert level (see GSN, Feb. 10).

“This person did not pass,” said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism chief and ABC News consultant.

“This piece of the puzzle turns out to be fabricated and therefore the reason for a lot of the alarm, particularly in Washington this week, has been dissipated after they found out that this information was not true,” Cannistraro added, but “by no means do people believe the threat has evaporated,” he added (ABCNews.com, Feb. 13).

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