[LINK] Fyi: nationalsecurity.gov.au

[Jon Seymour]

Of course the number of levels in use has not changed because the  
chance it will ever move to low again is itself unremarkably low.

jon.


On 06/04/2009, at 10:12, Stilgherrian <stil at stilgherrian.com> wrote:

> On 06/04/2009, at 8:19 AM, Chris Gilbey wrote:
>> I was interested to see when visiting this page that it states that
>> the
>> current level of alert for Australia is "Medium"
>>
>> So does that mean that I need to be "medium" paranoid?
>>
>> What if anything does this actually communicate?
>
> It communicates that the government wishes to indicate that it's
> "doing something".
>
> From http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/WWW/NationalSecurity.nsf/Page/Information_for_Individuals_National_Security_Alert_System_National_Counter-Terrorism_Alert_System
> :
>
>     While the Alert System may not directly affect your day
>     to day life, it is important that you are aware that
>     these arrangements exist. All Australian governments
>     are committed to ensuring that you can have confidence
>     in Australia’s ability to respond to any terrorist risk
>     or situation.
>
> In a "real" level-of-alert system, each level of alert has matching
> procedures or activities which are to be followed.
>
> As a hypothetical example, at a Level 1 alert the gate might be
> guarded by two people with small arms who visually inspect ID cards.
> In a Level 2 alert, they might carry automatic weapons and phone
> through the ID card details across-check. In a Level 3 alert, there
> might be six people at the gate, all armed, and the gate will only be
> opened once vehicles have be searched and all occupants patted down.
>
> However levels of alert systems with no matching procedures are purely
> political. Th number of alert levels was increased from 3 to 4 in
> Australia, and 4 to 5 in the US, precisely so governments could "raise
> the alert" and make us more afraid while still having room to
> manoeuvre at the top level -- i.e. things are getting worse, but
> they're not as bad as they could be.
>
> Stil
>
>
>
> -- 
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