Michael Greenberger, JD, professor in the School of Law and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security, says public concerns by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about the "sustainability and credibility" of the color-coded national terror alert system are "important" and "remarkable". The alert has been raised to code orange three times in the past four months. According to USA Today, Ridge said the system can only be as good as the intelligence reports that guide it.
Greenberger says, "Ridge's comments are important because they validate concerns within Congress and by the public that the alert system has become unworkable. Already, many first-responders and a substantial portion of the public have begun to ignore the alert upgrades.
"What is even more important is that Secretary Ridge made remarkable statements reinforcing the growing lack of confidence in the nation's intelligence-gathering system.
"Combined with the apparent WMD (weapons of mass destruction) intelligence failure concerning Iraq, Secretary Ridge's comments reinforce a growing view that our first line of defense against terrorism, the nation's intelligence system, is failing the country.
"Almost on a weekly basis, it appears the administration changes the lead agency on intelligence, moving it from the FBI to the CIA...to the Department of Defense...to the Department of Homeland security and back again.
"Every time the alert system is moved from Yellow to Orange, state and local first-responders are required to spend millions of dollars which further heightens the worst financial crisis faced by local jurisdictions since the Great Depression. We cannot continue the run-up in state and local dollars that aren't there."
Greenberger says the questions about the alert system will result in yet more Congressional hearing into the system and the problems with the intelligence-gathering system.
For more information about Greenberger and the Center for Health and Homeland Security, see http://www.umaryland.edu/heathsecurity.
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