# Is the National Terror Threat Alert System helping terrorists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 17, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296 "2003-04-17T13:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/1 "2003-04-17T13:49:05Z")
I dunno, but if I were a terrorist, I would wait till the until the terror alert threat level was lowered, since you’re basically telling terrorists that security is lessened, before I staged my next attack. Is this prudent? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/2 "2003-04-17T14:17:34Z")
I think it helps their cause just by elevating the sense of terror in people every day, regardless of what real terrorists think of the alert system. I live in a podunk town on the border of Texas and Arkansas. We aren’t a target. We aren’t a threat. Yet nearly every day I hear people in one place or another talking about how easily the terrorists could poison our water supply or shut down our one Interstate. It’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/3 "2003-04-17T14:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\*I think it helps their cause just by elevating the sense of terror in people every day, regardless of what real terrorists think of the alert system. I live in a podunk town on the border of Texas and Arkansas. We aren’t a target. We aren’t a threat. Yet nearly every day I hear people in one place or another talking about how easily the terrorists could poison our water supply or shut down our one Interstate. It’s ridiculous. \*\* Some people are worried, no doubt. But I’m finding that the terrorist threat level is being pretty much ignored by people I deal with every day. **LolaCocaCola** , aside from government offices, military facilities and perhaps things like port authorities and bridge police forces, I don’t think security is much raised or lowered when the terror threat is raised or lowered. Those in some kind of authority who feel the need to take precautions pretty much have made those precautions part of the permanent routine. All others seem to go about business as usual pre-9/11/01. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/4 "2003-04-17T15:00:15Z")
The terror alert system is not designed to deter terrorism, nor is it necessarily an enticement to terrorism to drop the alert status. The system is there to influence Americans, both in a pragmatically productive way, and in a politically expedient way. Pragmatically, the system tells law enforcement and other agencies not only to put extra precautions into effect under high level conditions, but also to _heighten their presumption_ that incidents have connection to a terror attack during the period of the alert. Politically, this same presumption of terror could (purely theoretically, of course) be used to manipulate public acceptance of otherwise unpalatable executive actions or legislative proposals, as long as the “anti-terror” label is applied to them. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/5 "2003-04-17T19:16:24Z")
Gotta agree with **xenophon41** here – the Terror Alert Status is an incredibly convenient way to keep the populace in control. Just crank it up to Orange or Red, mutter something about vague threats, then do whatever controversial actions you want to undertake while everyone’s running for the duct tape and plastic sheeting. And the beauty of it is that you don’t have to produce any justification or results for setting the status – there’s no oversight, no checks and balances, _nothing_ to let the citizens determine for themselves if there’s a genuine threat or just a lot of bullstuff… ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/6 "2003-04-17T19:24:04Z")
it is a joke and the gov’t’s excuse next time something big happens to say they were doing something. “We were on TERROR ALERT: MAUVE which meant we knew something was up! Now we have elevated to TERROR ALERT: DURIAN YELLOW.” ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/7 "2003-04-17T20:04:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\*it is a joke and the gov’t’s excuse next time something big happens to say they were doing something. “We were on TERROR ALERT: MAUVE which meant we knew something was up! Now we have elevated to TERROR ALERT: DURIAN YELLOW.” \*\* Personally, I hold off on buying any duct tape until we reach “TERROR ALERT: BURNT SIENNA”, although “TERROR ALERT: PERRIWINKLE” is a close second (it just sounds intimidating, doesn’t it? - I wish crayola wasn’t such a big campaign contributor 🙂 ) Seriously though, I see the whole terror alert thing as just a big joke. I mean, if we’re on yellow, I shouldn’t call in when I see large, explosive-laden trucks parked on bridges, but if we’re on orange, I should? All it really serves to do is scare the public, which, apparently, is what the terrorists wanted in the first place. And somebody made a comment about the level of alert in rural, podunk towns as opposed to large, government buildings, etc. I work in a large government building, and the only real difference I’ve noticed when the terror alert gets updated is: a) We get a memo from security saying there’s nothing to worry about b) There’s a few extra guys with guns outside That’s about it. Admittedly, I doubt I’m seeing the whole picture, but the change in alert status is largely transparent to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/8 "2003-04-17T21:14:05Z")
If the intent of the system really is to deter terrorism by heightening the state of alert in anticipation of attacks, then it seems logical to me that the system must also occasionally react to _no threat at all_ in order to keep the bad guys guessing as to how our intelligence collection works. Disinformation is a critical component in the successful utilization of intelligence. The selection of those “random” alerts could also be chosen for expedient times–say, just before an election or while garnering public support for a war. I have [no evidence](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/jan-june03/orange_2-7.html) that this [has happened](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec01/alert_10-30.html). And I likely won’t ever have that evidence unless someone gets stone-cold busted pulling off such a stunt. And that’s unlikely to happen because the very mechanism by which the Fear-O-Meter works is shrouded in mystery. It forces us to trust our government, which is damned unwise if you ask me. If the United States manages to survive this latest flush and float to the top of the bowl again, somebody down the line is going to note that the times when America was at its absolute most dangerous (to itself) was when fear could be ladled onto the masses by the federal government, without accountability or concern for reprisal–the [Red Scare](http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAredscare.htm), [McCarthyism](http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm), and, so it appears, today. Which begs the question: after having helped to create such a climate of fear, why should a terrorist organization risk its precious assets by doing anything at all except calling a known tapped line, or releasing a videotape or recording every now and then? The payoff approaches that of an actual act, while risking nothing at all. ---
**Author:** ![TheMemeWarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TheMemeWarrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMemeWarrior)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-national-terror-threat-alert-system-helping-terrorists/169296/9 "2003-04-18T00:36:40Z")
But no governemnt will ever be able to put it to the lowest rating ever again. A) it would invite terrorists B) if anything does happen they’ll look like incompetents