Free Republic

The Department of Homeland Security is putting its new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS,) which consists of two levels of warning: 'imminent' and 'elevated,' into use within the week with an official announcement in Grand Central Terminal Wednesday from DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano. --SNIP-- An "Elevated Threat" will warn of a credible terrorist threat against the United States. An "Imminent Threat" will warn of a credible, specific, and impending terrorist threat against the nation. --SNIP-- It replaces the color-coded system used following the terror attacks of 9/11.

When looking at the poll data, it turns out that raising the alert levels never benefited Mr. Bush but may actually have hurt him. So we suggest a new conspiracy theory -- that Mr. Ridge stopped the country from going to orange alert to secure the re-election of Mr. Bush. As the current hyperventilating shows, some people will believe anything.

Ridge Changes Tune On Terror Alert LevelsPITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 Tom Ridge (File) Alex Wong/Getty Images Close numSlides of totalImages Former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge is calling out former colleagues in the Bush Administration, suggesting they tried to play politics with the terror alert level. The charge comes in a book due out next month. Ridge claims other members of the Cabinet pressured him to raise the terror alert level shortly before the 2004 Presidential election. He says Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pressed him to support increasing...

***VIEW THE NEW JOHN KERRY TERROR ALERT SYSTEM***(CLICK HERE TO VIEW NOW)

August 5, 2004 Terror Warning Is Said to Lead to New ArrestsBy RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL ASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - The Bush administration said Wednesday that the United States and its allies had begun a campaign to disrupt terrorist operations around the world, including the arrest of a suspected senior member of Al Qaeda in Britain.The suspected Qaeda operative was among 12 men being questioned by the British authorities after raids prompted in part by the same intelligence information that led the administration to elevate the terror threat level in the United States over the weekend, including detailed...

The Terror AlertsPublished: August 5, 2004 ur lives have changed so much since Sept. 11, 2001. We know that we may never again be free of the threat of terrorism. It's been a tough adjustment for everyone, and the burden on President Bush is especially heavy. Given the unprecedented circumstances and the costs of making a mistake, it's easy to understand why the administration has had so much trouble managing the way it informs the public about potential danger. But after 17 months in which alerts blinked from yellow to orange and back a half-dozen times, the White House should...

Al-Qaida has operatives currently within the United States who are preparing to mount a major terrorist attack on America this summer, according to government intelligence deemed to be highly credible. The prediction was made public after a study by the International Institute of Strategic Studies revealed that despite the elimination of many top terror leaders – President Bush says two thirds of al-Qaida's leadership has been killed or captured – the terror network responsible for 9-11 still has a functioning leadership and over 18,000 potential terrorists in its global network, reports Fox News. In response, Attorney General John Ashcroft and...

Police called off a terror alert Thursday afternoon in the northern Sharon region, near Umm el-Fahm. The forces had gone on alert due to warnings that a terrorist had infiltrated from the West Bank into Israel. Security forces were deployed along the Trans-Israel Highway and along the seam line. They also blocked off access between the highway and the area between Baka el-Garbiya and the Barkai junction. Security forces had earlier called a terror alert for the central Sharon region - near Petah Tikva, Rosh Ha'ayin and Kafr Qasem - but moved the focus of the alert north a short...

In light of the Madrid bombing, France has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide”. The only two higher levels In France are “Surrender” and “Collaborate”. A little bit of humor to lighten things up.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Warnings of an imminent terrorist strike "lit up" in the weeks before September 11, CIA (news - web sites) director George Tenet said as the official inquiry into the attacks highlighted confusion and missed opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). Tenet took centre stage on the second day of public hearings by the inquiry commission that has criticised the administrations of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his predecessor Bill Clinton (news - web sites) over their count-terrorism strategy before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that left...

Japan on highest terror alert TOKYO - Japan raised its terror alert to its highest level yesterday. Heavily armed police were mobilised around airports, nuclear plants and government offices to guard against a possible attack, an official said. It was the first time the government had gone on such a heightened alert since the US-led military attack on Iraq last year. A National Police Agency official refused to say whether the government had new information about a possible terror strike. The official said riot police would guard Tokyo and Kansai international airports and nuclear power and reprocessing facilities

The State Department fueled growing war jitters yesterday by issuing an alert to American expatriates around the world: Be prepared to evacuate and come home. Similar alerts are sometimes sent to people in war-torn countries, but this was the first sent to all 4 million expatriates, a majority of whom live in peaceful places such as Canada and Britain. Officials played down the warning, saying it was just precautionary. "We thought it was appropriate to remind people to take ordinary and routine precautions," a senior official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "American citizens should always be prepared to depart...