I am not at all satisfied with our security situation. But I believe we are safer than before 9-11. All the threats that exist now, existed then. Our awareness of the threats has increased dramatically. Our counter-measures have increased at an unprecedented level.

I'm not talking about the stuff done for show, or the color codes or any of that. I mean that now we are taking seriously what should have been taken seriously after the first WTC attack but which Clinton chose to deal with as a law enforcement problem.

Ignoring a threat in the 90s did not make the threat less real, but we sure felt safer.

>Charles;
>
>Please tell me how we are safer? Each day on CNN they have this message about our national alert status and it says “Elevated”. We have been at Code Orange for some time. Either we will become paranoid or indifferent to our security status.
>
>Why is it we have military, local and state police protecting specific areas around San Francisco, where I live?
>
>When I was in the Air Force we started with different colors to define alert status. Then we added numbers within the colors. And then Defcon one, priority four! We would be on Red alert for days at a time. Being shot at and awake for 72 hours at a stretch got my attention. The stress of hearing over and over what the alert status was, was not enjoyable to me.
>
>We cannot even take care flu vaccinations in our country. What will happen if we have a national emergency? Perhaps we will not have a national emergency. I hope we do not.
>
>Tom