National Alert System In Disarray

[dArKeR]

The Emergency Alert System was once an unavoidable reminder of Cold War threats, an unearthly buzzing sound that interrupted TV and radio broadcasts and ended with the iconic proclamation "This is only a test."

These days, the tests are much shorter, less obtrusive -- and easy to miss. But the system, emblematic of the nation's emergency alert network, is a mess, says a group of leading state and local disaster response officials.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the officials formed the nonprofit Partnership for Public Warning. New threats demanded improved warning systems, they reasoned, networks using the latest technologies to save lives by speeding warnings to cell phones and evacuation maps to handheld computers.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/28/terror/main626452.shtml

The Bush Legacy!

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. Duct (tape) and cover.

It's astonishing but not surprising that nearly 3 years after 9/11 all we have is a color-code alert hidden within the endless graffiti scrawls on cable news. I think there's more hope for natural disaster-related warning systems than for terror events (people really do fear the wrath of the weather gods), and more hope for less congested areas than for urban areas (chances of survival go down as the population density goes up).

And anybody who lived through last summer's northeast blackout knows that, once the power is out, all bets are off. You're on your own.

[dArKeR]

2. 3 years and a Trillion of our Dollars spent!