Maybe BHO doesn’t see them as threats but just as a messy part of ‘fundamental transformation’. Why the silence?
This month, as officials in the Obama administration trumpet new warnings about “credible” threats to the United States homeland, the long-ignored role of America’s primary terror alert system is under serious scrutiny for the first time.
The National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS), a function of the massive Department of Homeland Security, didn’t issue any public advisories this summer as Western passport holders took up jihad in Syria by the thousands and anti-American extremists carved out safe havens in Iraq. In fact, NTAS, the successor to the George W. Bush administration’s color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System, has been silent for longer than most realize.
Since replacing the old system in 2011, it has not issued a single alert, bulletin or advisory to the American public. NTAS encourages Americans to check its website and social media feeds for “information about threats in specific places or for individuals exhibiting certain types of suspicious activity.” But no alert has ever been posted to the website, the Twitter account has never tweeted, and the Facebook page is empty.
Read more: Foreign Policy
