Apropos of nothing, I was reviewing some reports from August 2004 and noticed something interesting: talk about domestic terrorist attacks, orange alerts, and the need for constant vigilance dominated the news. August 2005? Not so much.<\/p>\n
A year ago this week, for example, U.S. News & World Report reported<\/a> that the ongoing threat was so great, Republican National Convention attendees were asked to “carry next-of-kin phone numbers on their persons,” in case emergency workers needed to contact their relatives during the convention.<\/p>\n Shortly before this, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft told the nation<\/a> that a serious terrorist threat was all-but imminent.<\/p>\n “Credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months,” Ashcroft said. “This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda’s specific intention to hit the United States hard.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n All of this made me wonder, when was the last time we even heard about raising the threat-advisory system<\/a>? It’s not as if terrorism has faded<\/a>. Last August, as Bush was poised to be re-nominated (in the same city where the Twin Towers fell and where 9\/11 was mentioned constantly) and the presidential election was just a couple of months away, terror-alert warnings to the public dominated public discussion. This August, almost complete silence.<\/p>\n