Chertoff and Terror Threat Levels

The Chicago Tribune reports that Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, is concerned about Americans being complacent about terrorist threats:

Fearing complacency among the American people over possible terror threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Chicago Tuesday that the nation faces a heightened chance of an attack this summer.

But then Chertoff assesses the summer threat level this way:

"I believe we are entering a period this summer of increased risk," Chertoff told the Chicago Tribune's editorial board in an unusually blunt and frank assessment of America's terror threat level.

"Summertime seems to be appealing to them," he said of al-Qaeda. "We do worry that they are rebuilding their activities."

Still, Chertoff said there are not enough indications of an imminent plot to raise the current threat levels nationwide. And he indicated that his remarks were based on "a gut feeling" formed by past seasonal patterns of terrorist attacks, recent al-Qaeda statements, and intelligence he did not disclose.

I wonder why Americans would be complacent about terror warnings when the highest-level domestic security official bases his concerns on a "gut feeling"?

 

He admitted to the Chicago paper that his comment address concerns "not of a specific threat, but of increased vulnerability". I say he should tell us where we are vulnerable so we can get to work on fixing that rather than making us watch him wringing his hands about his gut feelings.