I don’t even pay attention to what the Department of Homeland Security has to say. The warning system is severely flawed and it does little but keep people living in fear. Aside from being unhealthy, it’s a complete waste of time, tax dollars, etc. I’ve run across this link to an Op Ed piece from Bruce Schneier, author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World all over the place today.
A terrorist alert that instills a vague feeling of dread or panic, without giving people anything to do in response, is ineffective. Even worse, it echoes the very tactics of the terrorists. There are two basic ways to terrorize people. The first is to do something spectacularly horrible, like flying airplanes into skyscrapers and killing thousands of people. The second is to keep people living in fear. Decades ago, that was one of the IRA's major aims. Inadvertently, the DHS is achieving the same thing.
I could not agree more. The man knows a thing or two.
