Despite Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge’s assurance that local officials would understand how to act in accordance to a heightened security alert, local authorities say their hands are tied. The ability to step up awareness is hampered by a lack of information-sharing from the federal government, said Sgt. Jane Stoklasa of the Madison Police Department.
U.S. officials announced Friday they were raising the Homeland Security Advisory to a level denoting a high risk of terrorist attacks in response to reports indicating “an increased likelihood that al Qaeda may attempt to attack Americans in the United States.”
“I think you’ll find that we’ve given them some information,” Ridge said of local emergency-response teams. “And they are professionals, and they know how to act on specific information, and they will.”
Stoklasa, however, said she has yet to see any of that specific information.
“It’s just the same kind of information and direction we’ve been getting since September of 2001,” Stoklasa said. “Be alert. Watch out for suspicious activity. Keep our eyes open. They don’t give us any more information in our briefings than what they give the public. I don’t know why they wont give us any more information.”
David Jensen, interim director of the Dane County Airport, said the airport was already operating at the orange level of alert as standard practice.
Dane County Emergency Management Director Kathy Krusiec said the announcements did not indicate a specific threat to any region of the country or business sector.
The action increased the level of alert from an elevated-risk alert, which is coded yellow. The high-risk alert is coded orange and is the second-highest level of alert on the Department of Homeland Security’s five-point advisory system.
At a White House press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft cited continued terrorist activity as the reason for the heightened wariness.
Ashcroft also said intelligence agencies have information that al Qaeda are planning attacks on apartment buildings, hotels and other lightly guarded targets in the United States.
Ashcroft stressed that Americans should not cancel events or change travel plans, but rather “continue their daily work and leisure activities with a heightened awareness of their environment and the activities occurring around them.”
DHS secretary Tom Ridge said the purpose for the alert was a call to Americans to become more informed.
“We do recommend that individuals and families, in the days ahead, take some time to prepare for an emergency,” Ridge said.
Ridge said instructions for the alert were being communicated to local and state law enforcement, governors, members of Congress, mayors and “those who share responsibility for the nation’s private infrastructure.”
Gov. Jim Doyle asked state citizens to follow the DHS’s advisory.
“We live in uncertain times with the threat of war and terrorism,” Doyle said. “I encourage Wisconsin citizens to remain vigilant but continue with their daily activities.”
Ashcroft said the decision to heighten the alert was based primarily on intelligence information and not tied to the United States building up its military presence in the Persian Gulf.
