Threat advisory system works, Ridge says
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Tuesday defended the color-coded alert system for warning about potential terrorism but declined to comment on how confident he is in the intelligence community until after a federal commission releases its final report is Thursday.
"There have been significant, substantive and positive changes" in communications since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said during a press conference at the National Governors Association's annual meeting in Seattle.
The nation's mayors and governors are given information on potential threats as soon as it is made available to the Homeland Security Department, Ridge said, and "there's enough flexibility" with the system to address local concerns.
Ridge was on hand for an exercise with the governors that focused on how to respond to a bioterrorism event.
COMMENTS
- The relative ease of individuals (not states, not state sponsored groups, not non-state sponsored groups, but individuals) constructing and deploying a highly contagious extremely lethal virus means that it is probable that there will soon be the largest die off of humans in the history of the world (using the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic as the baseline). The Spanish flu was only 5% lethal, and in 1918 there was far less people, there wasn’t one day intercontinental travel, and the Spanish flu wasn’t deliberately deployed by terrorists. Brad Arnold Posted July 20, 2004 2:19 AM
