Alert!: Reports are coming out that the administration is truly worried about increased chances of terrorist action in our own country (once an ocean separated us from fears of European wars, but modern times changed our sense of security; it was only a matter of time that terrorism that hit Europe and Asia would come here). I have no reason to doubt their sincerity (some people wouldn't accept if they said the sky is blue, but I'm a bit more trusting), but it is hard to take these "alerts" seriously. In part, this is because nothing has happened yet, so you have a sense of security that 9/11 (or the first time crime hits you personally) shows is somewhat naive.

All the same, the administration has not handled homeland security (not just the agency, the overall concept) that well, focusing their efforts overseas. This supplies an issue for Democrats [see, e.g., here], but overall also hurts when such warnings come out. They have a sort of "boy who cried wolf" nature to them, especially since Tom Ridge, the Homeland Security head is mostly a forgotten man these days (he's always available to help reign in fleeing Texan legislators though). If we get through this holiday season without any tragedy, I bet most would not mind such negative feelings, except to the degree it will hurt us in putting forth reforms to make our shores safer in these more dangerous times.