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To: LindyBill who wrote (113365)	5/11/2005 3:04:11 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793914

"If they fail in Iraq, Osama and his whole crew are finished," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, a military author and analyst. Not going to happen, though it's a nice quote. I think it is unrealistic to expect that there will be no AQ survivors. Moreover, the ones who do survive will be the "best and brightest" though they will be a lot fewer of them.

To: LindyBill who wrote (113365)	5/11/2005 4:30:44 PM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793914

This is going to tick off my grandchildren. They are developing a terrorist game for kids using m&m's in DHS' warning colors. One of the parents asked me what they can use brown m&m's for. I told her DHS had reserved brown for when the stuff hits the fan. Posted on Tue, May. 10, 2005 Red alert! Homeland Security plans warning system change By John Mintz Washington Post WASHINGTON – Responding to widespread criticism, Department of Homeland Security officials are considering changes to the color-coded terror warning system and other methods of providing more useful information to the public without causing panic or disclosing closely held intelligence. Among the possibilities forwarded to Secretary Michael Chertoff are issuing lower-key alerts on the department’s Web site – as the State Department does now with travel advisories – rather than holding news conferences, and changing the color categories to numbers or letters, current and former officials said. Other options raised by some top Homeland Security officials who have studied the issue include conducting periodic polls and focus groups to better understand how people react to warnings, they said. Also, the department might launch a years-long public education campaign, including TV documentaries and participation in made-for-television movies, officials said. The idea would be to help Americans understand the differences among various types of terrorist attacks and explain the typically fragmentary nature of the government’s intelligence about where and how they might be carried out. An icon of the post-Sept. 11 era, the color-coded threat advisory system is unloved even by its creators. Homeland Security officials privately acknowledge the many flaws of the system under which the threat level was raised from yellow, or “elevated risk” of attack, to orange, or “high risk,” six times between September 2002 and last fall. Often accompanied by vague information about the threat and official recommendations to carry on with normal activities, the system was eventually ignored or disdained. While former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge was saddled with it, Chertoff now has an opportunity to tinker with it – or trash it. Aides stressed that Chertoff, who has begun an internal review of many of the department’s programs, has not yet taken up the question of the color-based Homeland Security Advisory System. They added that he might decide not to change the system’s public notification component and likely will retain many of its procedures for issuing terror bulletins to state and local officials and industry executives. But Chertoff said in an interview on NBC’s Today show recently that he would “listen to criticism and see if we need to adjust or improve” the system. “We want the public to be knowledgeable about what is going on but not alarm them,” he added. “We’re reviewing the advisory system as part of a comprehensive review of the department … which will focus on improvements and adjustments that could be made to the system,” DHS spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. The color-coded system, unveiled in March 2002 was designed to create tiers of perceived threat for state and local authorities and industry sectors, providing a menu of security options. While officials knew they would make the threat alerts public, they spent little time planning how to communicate with the public or anticipating how people would react, several ranking officials said.