03/19/2005   English German
  Edition # 54  
San Francisco, 03-19-2005

Increased Terror Alert Level
Figure [1]: The Terror Warning System.

Michael Every day, while riding my bike across the grounds of Lockheed Martin to Yahoo!, I notice a signboard with the updated terror alert scale at the gatekeeper's. It ranges from "Low" (green), to "Guarded" (blue), "Elevated" (yellow), "High" (orange), to "Severe" (red). For months, the pointer has been in the middle at "Elevated".

This warning system was released by the Department of Homeland Security, an institution newly created by President Bush.

The system is reminiscent of the fire warnings in American forests. There are usually signs with fields in four different colors, "Low" (green), "Medium" (yellow), "High" (orange), "Extreme" (red). And the forester sets a pointer to the corresponding field every day, depending on the weather, so that people know when the forest is bone dry and it is best not to light a campfire. Quite sensible.

But the terror warning system? During the Cold War in the seventies and eighties, at least recommendations were issued on what to do if, for example, an atomic bomb hits (head in the sand, newspaper on top!). But what should I do if the terror warning shifts to orange? To red even?

The satirical newspaper "The Onion" immediately came out with a warning sign for Iraq afterwards. The lowest warning level there was "Dull explosions in some distance". And a bit further up was the warning level "Let me put it this way; I wouldn't take any long drives."

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