Security personnel not taking "Orange Alert" seriously

[Walt Starr]

As many DUers may know, I work in a high profile target building. Every Orange Alert in the past, including the one in May of this year, resulted in stepped up security procedures.

Normal procedures in this building include metal detectors and X-ray equipment as well as bag searches based upon results from the X-ray machines. During Orange Alerts in the apst, additional personnel would be put on and at lunch time when people bring back bags and can walk through the metal detectors without them going off, those bags were searched. This occurred during every Orange Alert in the past.

I just brought my lunch back in a plain brown bag. Security was no different than last week, with security personnel joking around and nobody paid my plain brown bag any notice.

You know this is a bogus alert when the security people don;t pay any attention to it.

[Loonman]

1. Nobody does

The color code thing became a joke the first time they used it.

[Walt Starr]

2. The secutiry personnel in this high profile building ALWAYS took them

seriously. Every last one of them was taken EXTREMELY seriously in the past.

This one has received absolutely no attention from the secuirty personnel. Absolutely nada!

Beleive me, I work in what is probably the most high profile civilian building in the United States right now.

[nostamj]

3. in NYC

previously I would see increased security around Grand Central including blocking one of the accesses from the West and armed guards added to the usual security & bomb dog checking trucks coming in.

nothing this morning. nothing.

[Walt Starr]

4. There was nothing in Union Station Chicago, either

It's like everybody has agreed. This is a bogus warning for political reasons, nothing more.

[GOPFighter]

5. I work in a government facility

I agree, the our security people were not following the same procedures as the last time we hit orange. We had to have our bags x-rayed this morning on the way in, but my car wasn't searched or examined at all, and the guards are still just glancing at our IDs from a distance.

It's not only the guards, everyone in my bulding is cynical, making little snide remarks and jokes about the security level.

The sad thing is, no one trusts the government anymore. As a government employee this pisses me off royally because everyone in my office is principled and tries very hard to serve the public honestly and responsibly.

[adriennel]

6. I hope I'm wrong

but I think Homeland Security just raises the alert level IN CASE something happens, then the BushCo butt is covered. they can't give specifics on what caused the elevated alert, so how exactly does the alert system help us prepare for something we don't know about?

[htuttle]

7. Reminds of this old story about a boy and a wolf...

On the other hand, portions of the nation's 'security forces' were unusually lackadasical the morning of 9/11 as well, so the news may not be all good.

[Walt Starr]

8. That kinda worries me, too

Could it be that the administration wanted to get people used to the Terra 'Lerts and let their guard down, just so we could be "hit" again?

It would play into the hands of all fear all the time, and we know the masses are easily controlled when controlled via fear.

all they ahve to say is, "we gave the alert, and nobody paid attention to us so we were hit again." Then bingo bango, any time they say jump, the American Sheeple ask how high.

[nostamj]

11. as if it would be "our" fault...

for not watching crop dusters in Des Moines or trash cans in Times Square.

a more likely (however cynical) scenerio is this:

they upgrade the alert status.

(almost) everybody yawns or flips them the bird.

then, they announce they have THWARTED a diabolical plot which would have killed 10s of thousands had brave commander bushie not HEROICALLY acted to save the Amurrikan people.

24/7 news goes into "what MIGHT have happened mode".

enough of the people stay terrified enough to miss all the really terrifying stuff the bushies are up to.

[Walt Starr]

12. I see a slight problem with that scenario

If everybody was not taking this alert as bullshit, then I'd agree that's the most likely scenario. They've tried the "thwarted attack" bullshit line before with Padilla, etc. It would have to be an actual thwarted attack for that one to really work.

Of course, this is all speculation right now. We don't actually know what devious plans these evil men have.

[nostamj]

14. padilla was a trial balloon

at best.

*if* they do this, it would be a TERRA CELL and they'd have tons of explosives to parade around...

we'll see...

[Walt Starr]

15. Yep, an "Actual" thwarted attack is an absolute must here

I wouldn't put it past them to know of a cell and raise the Terra 'Lert just before moving in for a more dramatic effect. The media whores would be all over it.

Especially if they have some radioactive agent, too. That one could be enough to raise the Terra 'Lert level to CODE RED!!!!, then declare martial law.

[zbdent]

9. I don't know, some of those egg-salad sandwiches, with the proper

processing, can become biological weapons of mass nausea, especially for those around you.

[Walt Starr]

10. Seriously, I worked security and I know

Plastic explosives WILL NOT trigger a metal detector, although you can see clearly in a metal detector that what you've got is most likely explosives.

Bags go into the X-ray machine, metal into the bins at the metal detector. If you walk through with your brown bag of lunch, no metal detector alert sounds, but if there are explosives in that bag, you just made it past security.

In Yellow Alert, they never bothered. In Orange Alert, they never let any bag go through uninspected, at least in every previous Orange Alert.

Today is absolutely no different than Friday. It's as if there was no increase in the Alert Status, ergo, they are like everybody else and no longer take these things seriously.

This alert system has become a total failure because even those who are paid to pay more attention during the times that the status is raised consider it bullshit.

[madrchsod]

13. does this mean

we are not going to die? no death from above? well then,i`m going shopping..