Threat Level is Murky
The color-code threat level at America’s airports has been “Orange” for so long, it’s become rusty. Don’t believe me? Drive into Houston’s Intercontinental Airport and a permanent sign, now rusting and faded, informs you of the orange threat level.
The alert level was elevated in August 2006 after an incident in England. People were arrested and then released. But the threat level in the U.S. has remained at orange ever since. Now, the Obama administration wants to review the whole color-coded threat system, and I applaud their intentions.
Call me a cynic but I have always felt the color-coded threat system was a propaganda attempt by the Bush administration to manipulate public opinion in order to create ongoing fear as opposed to any more strategic attempt at national security.
More than the color-coded system, the new administration needs to evaluate the whole airport security bureaucracy that has grown up and the procedures that seem more for show than substance.
If threat detection systems have improved, why then do we still need to remove our shoes and put laptop computers in separate bins for airport screening? The U.S. is the only country that mandates such things, and I believe it simply is for no other purpose than to manipulate our level of fear.
The administration also needs to review the propaganda and PR machine supporting Homeland Security and airport TSA. The agencies have big, expensive national PR agencies on retainer seemingly for no greater purpose than to attend endless meetings with the ever-changing ranks of PR people at Homeland Security, an agency not unlike FEMA that has unfortunately attracted less than competent or professional communications leaders.
The outcome of this new effort by the Obama administration may be an end to those mindless and meaningless “The Threat Level is Orange” recording loops that have repeated over and over at the nation’s airports for years.
Filed Under: Featured • Public Relations
About the Author: David is a veteran communications strategist ... writer ... blogger ... online publisher ... and Emmy Award winning former CBS Network News correspondent. He lives in the Washington, D. C., area, and works worldwide.
