It's always amusing to see the reactions of people and organizations to the increased terror alert. The reaction at NYU was to buy plastic sheets and duct tape for the dorms. The Stevens reaction is even better:
STEVENS ALERT
Stevens Institute has been notified by the State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services of a change in the National Threat Level from Yellow to Orange. With this heightened alert it was felt that for a short period of time the southern entrance to the Howe Center should be closed and that all customers, faculty, staff, students and vendors should enter through the main entrance into the lobby area. Once this alert is lifted the Howe Center will be returned to the normal course of operations. I would like to thank all those individuals and groups who use the Howe Center for their understanding in making the temporary change. You may call me at extension 5340 at any time if you have any questions or comments on the above.
Thanks!
Henry P. Dobbelaar, Jr., P.E.
So, basically, the whole of Stevens campus is safe now because they closed a door to the Howe center. I can't speak for everyone, but I know I feel safer with that door closed. Because even if there were some kind of attack initiated from Stevens (there won't), if it's chemical or biological, access to the building isn't needed, and if it were a bomb, the Stevens police wouldn't know what to do. It's not like there's any more security at the one door they have still open, you could carry almost anything in there and not be questioned about it, or even looked at. Not to mention that it's a glass door, and the way up to it is blocked off with yellow Caution tape. I'm sure that anyone intent on large-scale destruction would, of course, not disregard the tape and break the door if they felt like it.
This is just another of a long string of foolish and nonsensical overreactions to a 'very specific threat' about which we don't know date, time, place, or method. This isn't just limited to Stevens, though. In DC, anti-aircraft missiles were deployed around the city, Congressmen have been given gas masks and are being told to keep $1000 at home (I fail to see how this really matters, if there is some kind of attack, money becomes much less of an issue (unless, of course, you're Starbucks)), and the security guards at the Capitol are now carrying submachine guns. What good is a submachine gun going to be? We all know from James Bond movies that if you have a submachine gun, you always miss, but with a pistol, one shot kills. Seriously, though, I can't see any circumstance whereby the security at Capitol Hill would be better off armed with submachine guns.
So we have a serious of moves with no practical purpose, that we're told are done to 'increase security', when in actuality, they do nothing more than inconvience people unnecessarily (as with what Stevens has done), or make people more afraid of the 'specific' general information our government claims to have.