Excellent work by Crichton.
The idea and plan is to keep people in a constant "state of fear."
I LOVED his lecture on the Drake Equation! ;)
I’m sure it was partially in homage to Mencken.
â...the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.â
- H. L. Mencken