New FBI warning -- anyone still paying attention to these?

**AuntieEmma**[$] · #1 10-29-2001, 06:46 PM

It's the same thing as last time -- an FBI warning to be on the highest alert for additional terrorist attacks that could occur "within days." And again, this time, there's nothing more specific than that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...171953_000.htm

Last time they issued that alert, I cancelled, at the last minute, a reservation for a flight which would have been during the alert period. Yeah, I know, I'm not winning any medals for bravery this year. My initial reaction now is to ignore the current warning, since nothing happened after the last one. But I can't really justify that reaction -- just because we were lucky last time, doesn't mean that will always be the case.

So what to do? The warning, again, is maddeningly vague, but I think they must have some specific danger in mind or else they wouldn't have issued the warning in the first place.

vania · #2 10-30-2001, 09:13 AM

It's kinda irritating to me, really. I mean, I'm glad that they're actually sort of keeping us informed but it bothers me for two reasons:

1. I feel sure that they usually know more specifics than they're letting on. I mean, could these "warnings" BE any more vague?

2. What good does it do, really, to even tell us this non-specific information? Most of us can't really do anything any differently than we're doing now. (Unless you have plane reservations, which I guess you could choose to cancel.) I mean, I get up, go to work, come home, blah blah. What can I possibly do differently to protect myself now that I know there's a threat?

Geez. It just makes people stress unnecessarily.

v.

cristina1 · #3 10-30-2001, 09:45 AM

My mother and I had this conversation last night. Obviously, something has been found to have the FBI declare a high alert for civillians. If they have a specific threat in mind, all I can hope for right about now is that they have alerted the local authorities and are backing them up.

At least now, the people cant scream that the FBI KNEW about the attacks and never warned the pubic. We are warned. It is really a useless warning, without having anything specific to go on. And for all we know, the attack they are thinking of might be a chemical attack in which case even staying home is not going to help us. But, what can you do?

I, for one, am planning on doing whatever it is that I was going to do anyway this week. Grocery shopping, running to Walmart to fill a prescription and pick up some Halloween candy, going to the mall to find a gift for my brother's birthday. I am still taking my kids out trick or treating the way we do it every year - to people's houses that we have known for a long time.

My biggest fear is that with all the talk about the possibility of more attacks, my four year old will pick up on it. I dont want my kids to live in a world where they are afraid to venture out of the house. Where my mother and I dont agree is that she thinks I should protect them by staying close to home. I think I am protecting them by showing them there is nothing to fear outside the home.

kurt_messick · #4 10-30-2001, 10:27 AM

If the alert is supposed to be primarily for law enforcement officials, why call a major press conference just to say 'we think we know that something might be happening sometime in the next few days, but we're not sure.'

I have a slogan for the next political campaign:

Credibility matters...

realtraveller · #5 10-30-2001, 10:57 AM

People would panic if word got out that an alert had been issued to law enforcement but no statement was issued to the general public. "Why are they keeping this from us?" "Why don't they want us to know?" "Do they think we're too stupid or to scared to be able to handle it?"

This is definitely a case of the Justice Department being damned if they do and damned if they don't.

As for me, I'm going to go on with my regular activities. The chances of me or mine being killed by terrorists are still infintesimally small.

erik_kosberg · #6 10-30-2001, 11:22 AM

Does The Boy Who Cried “Wolf” come to mind?

Redlass · #7 10-30-2001, 11:58 AM

It would be more helpful if they told us specifically what we should do while "on alert."

Otherwise their warnings are going to get ignored because no one can figure out what to do with them. We haven't their expertise and need a little more guidance than what they're providing.

Barring that guidance, it will be life as normal in my household.

realtraveller · #8 10-30-2001, 12:07 PM

"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was lying to generate a little excitement in his boring sheep watching duties. I think the government has quite enough excitement these days and I don't think they are lying. They just don't have specific information.

And they have told us what to do. Go about your normal activities but be alert for anything unusual.

CeeJay62 · #9 10-30-2001, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by realtraveller

This is definitely a case of the Justice Department being damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I agree. If they issue alerts based on non-specfic evidence they are alarmists, if they don't they are hiding something. They can't win on this one, but I suspect the FBI gets used to being in this situation.

I'm half listening to the news and the speculation on why the alert was issued runs from wanting ranchers to watch their livestock(I'm not touching that one) to dirty nukes.

**AuntieEmma**[$] · #10 10-30-2001, 12:44 PM

At the time I posted the message at the top of this thread, I had just happened to stumble on that little notice online (I think I found it through Drudge), and didn't realize it was going to be all over the news all of last night. I don't blame the Justice Department. I'd rather they tell us then not tell us. It's just that I have no idea what to do about it. They say be alert, but be alert for what? (I got that postcard from the Postal Service -- it said, among other things, to watch out for mail addressed to previous residents -- well I get that almost every day -- not to mention all the misdelivered mail that our not-exactly-alert carriers bring, stuff that should have gone a few doors or a few blocks away -- I think the police would be extremely pissed if I called them every time I got a letter addressed to somebody else.)

I certainly thought about the boy who cries wolf, but that's why I don't totally trust my own initial reaction to just ignore the warning this time. For me personally, it's mostly a question of do I reschedule the flight (which I had been planning to do right around now) or wait to see what happens. Other than that, as everyone said, even if you pay attention to the warning, for most people there's nothing that you can really do anyway. What is there to avoid, except maybe a handful of landmark buildings? (Before the warning, I had told a friend who lives in DC not to go on any White House tours, not that he would ever do that anyway, terrorists or no terrorists.)

CeeJay62 · #11 10-30-2001, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AuntieEmma
I'd rather they tell us then not tell us. It's just that I have no idea what to do about it.

I'd say not all of us are in a position to notice anything suspicious. If they had issued the alert to only police departments, security agencies and the like and it filtered back to us there would have been a bigger panic effect.

People who work at water treatment facilities, truck rental companies, any kind of power plant and so forth (basically any place that might be a target or a weapon) should be on the look out. As for me, unless a terrorist is planning on blowing up an actual Target this afternoon, I won't see a thing.