False Alarm?

[skywalker]

Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information

By Brian Ross, Len Tepper and Jill Rackmill

Feb. 13 — A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York.

The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.

More: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/U...alsealarm.html

I do not understand how we can take info from captured enemies (and previously crimnals) and treat it as truth. I do realize that any threat to the US is important, but what good is "Crying Wolf" if it only make the real threats less credible.

Originally from ABC News: It was only after the threat level was elevated to orange — meaning high — last week, that the informant was subjected to a polygraph test by the FBI, officials told ABCNEWS. "This person did not pass," said Cannistraro."

This is not good for credibility.

Mark

[Ziroc]

Originally posted by skywalker: Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information By Brian Ross, Len Tepper and Jill Rackmill Feb. 13 — A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York. The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination. More: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/U...alsealarm.html I do not understand how we can take info from captured enemies (and previously crimnals) and treat it as truth. I do realize that any threat to the US is important, but what good is "Crying Wolf" if it only make the real threats less credible. Quote: Originally from ABC News: It was only after the threat level was elevated to orange — meaning high — last week, that the informant was subjected to a polygraph test by the FBI, officials told ABCNEWS. "This person did not pass," said Cannistraro."

This is not good for credibility.

Mark[/QUOTE]True, but that was one out of MANY 'intercepts' they have heard in the last Month.. I wonder if SOME people are calling their friends, and joking about it, and the NSA hears it and freaks out.

[Ronn_Bman]

It's the classic damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. Who wants to be the person to say, "we'll just ignore this one"?

How long do we wait to verify a threat before warning people?

The heightened alert in England probably resulted in finding the grenade yesterday. That grenade wasn't detected in Columbia by the same company which should be employing similar safety standards. I know that wasn't the same threat as the US was facing, but the threat they were preparing against was against a SAM attack at Heathrow. They found a grenade at Gatwick. The threat they were protecting against hasn't, and hopefully won't, materialize, but a different threat was averted through the heightened status.

Do we want to scare everyone to death with every little thing? NO, of course not, but do we want to actually cause deaths by ignoring some little thing?