Report: Better Alerts In The Works

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is set to unveil a new terrorism alert system to give the public and state and local officials more precise information when the government issues warnings of potential attacks, The Washington Post reported in its Saturday editions.

The system will rate the likelihood of an attack and immediacy of a threat, will have tiered alert levels, and will be able to cover specific regions or industries, The Post says. For example, various parts of the United States could be on different stages of alert at the same time.

The new system, which could be announced within a week, is a response to complaints from security officials throughout the country that four broad terror alerts issued by the government after Sept. 11 scared the public without providing enough information to be of much use, The Post explains.

Even as they issued the alerts last fall, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Ridge advised the public to continue normal activities but suggested that people be extra watchful. Many police chiefs, meanwhile, maintained that their forces had already adopted the most stringent security precautions they could muster, The Post points out.

The latest alert will be in effect at least through Monday, the six month anniversary of the attacks. Several times since Sept. 11, the FBI also issued law enforcement advisories about upgrading security, including a series of warnings that led to stricter safeguards at nuclear facilities.

Once the new warning system is installed, the alerts would directly affect the operations of federal agencies, such as the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. State and local governments would then ratchet up security and plan contingencies on a voluntary basis, according to sources cited by The Post.

The goal is to have a universal language of warning so that everyone works together in a cohesive way, the sources said.

Ridge outlined his plans Thursday to President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Cabinet officials, according to Post sources. Later that day, he held a conference call with leaders of the National Governors Association and other groups.

Over the past few months, Ridge has said that he and his staff were working with federal, state and local officials, police chiefs and sheriffs toward a goal of putting "context behind these messages.

Saying the U.S. could be targeted at any time by terrrosits, Ridge has made clear that coping with the threat of terrorism will be a "permanent condition."

Ridge's aides have said that developing a new national alert system turned out to be quite complicated, the Post adds, with authorities debating how to define the levels and then seeking consensus among dozens of federal, state and local officials. Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor, has put a priority on receiving a broad range of advice.

"We see this as a very positive step. The system now, if you can call it that, doesn't really give local law enforcement any context," The Post quotes Thomas Faust, executive director of the National Sheriffs Association, as saying.

New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, likened the new approach to the way the public is informed about hurricanes, according to The Post. In a hurricane watch, for example, people are told to prepare their homes because a storm is possible, usually within 36 hours. In a warning, the hurricane is expected within 24 hours and might require evacuation.