posted on Mar, 18 2003 @ 12:06 PM
Red alert? Stay home, await word
(Or be assumed to be the ENEMY )
We are at Orange -- NOW ! (and the War hasn't even started Yet) Only one
more step to go !
Sunday, March 16, 2003
By TOM BALDWIN
Gannett State Bureau
TRENTON
If the nation escalates to "red alert," which is the highest in the
color-coded readiness against terror, you will be assumed by authorities
to be the enemy if you so much as venture outside your home, the state's
anti-terror czar says.
"This state is on top of it," said Sid Caspersen, New Jersey's director
of the office of counter-terrorism.
Caspersen, a former FBI agent, was briefing reporters, alongside Gov.
James E. McGreevey, on Thursday, when for the first time he disclosed
the realities of how a red alert would shut the state down.
A red alert would also tear away virtually all personal freedoms to move
about and associate.
"Red means all noncritical functions cease," Caspersen said.
"Noncritical would be almost all businesses, except health-related."
A red alert means there is a severe risk of terrorist attack, according
to federal guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security.
"The state will restrict transportation and access to critical
locations," says the state's new brochure on dealing with terrorism.
"You must adhere to the restrictions announced by authorities and
prepare to evacuate, if instructed. Stay alert for emergency messages."
Caspersen went further than the brochure. "The government agencies would
run at a very low threshold," he said.
"The state police and the emergency management people would take control
over the highways.
"You literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are
required to be out. No different than if you had a state of emergency
with a snowstorm."
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[Edited on 18-3-2003 by All Seeing Eye]