Editorial: New warning system for terrorist threats

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 | 8:28 a.m.

The federal government has issued four warnings since Sept. 11 that the United States could be attacked by terrorists. But the warnings have been vague about the specifics of the threats and unclear as to precisely when an attack might occur. The first warnings created anxiety immediately following Sept. 11, but as the months passed people just started ignoring the general warnings altogether because they were meaningless.

Not only has the public been confused by this situation, but local law enforcement agencies also frequently are in the dark since they always haven't been told exactly what to keep an eye on. On Tuesday domestic security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a a new warning system that should give the public a better sense of what kind of risks we're facing.

There will be a graduated, five-stage warning system in Ridge's plan with green the lowest level, followed by blue, yellow, orange and red. Ridge says that nationwide we're currently at yellow, which means there is a significant risk of attack that calls for increased surveillance of critical locations for the federal government. In addition to the different degrees of warnings, Ridge also said that they might be applied to specific regions of the country or even sectors of the economy, such as nuclear power plants, that could be the target of attacks.

We believe the more information the better, but even then there are some limits. For instance, an intelligence alert went out to a limited number of federal agencies in October that terrorists had been able to smuggle a nuclear weapon into New York City. If that information, which later turned out to be bogus, had been prematurely released to the public there is a possibility that it could have created a panic in New York. Federal officials were remiss, however, in not alerting New York City's top officials and the FBI in New York about the alert.

Ridge faces a tough job in informing the public without, at the same time, also creating unnecessary anxiety. The new warning system is a right step in managing that difficult balancing act.