Goes to prove one thing. Terrorists don't need hijacked planes to terrorize America anymore. Just a phone. Think I read somewhere that the incubation period for small pox is anywhere from 7 to 17 days. So that equals 17 days of terror for the passengers, their families and by proxy, the whole country. And if it turns out to be the real deal, people will be begging Ashcroft to trash whatever rights we might still have (maybe even if it doesn't).
Which should make any reasonable person question the origins of this "anonymous" tip. Especially after the crap they have rammed through already(that was ten years in the making).
The time window where you are communicable, mobile and without identifiable pustuals is anywhere from 12-48 hours out of the 17 days. Prior to the on-set of the pox, you are racked with debilitating pain making it impossible for you to function well enough to make a flight.
The time when you start having breath can kill without your being detectable or flat on your back is unpredictable as to both when it starts in that 17 day window and what its length is.