Genuinely Useful or Just Political?

The last post shows that the financial institutions in this country have long known that these institutions have been scouted and targeted by El Qaeda terrorists. We all hope they have taken necessary precautions and have had the full assistance of the federal government in making these preparations. So what was the value of the weekend "orange alert" about possible terrorist attacks on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington DC? It could have been to raise the alert that we have just received credible evidence that an attack is immenent. That would constitute new information recently received. But this does not seem to be the case. Instead, we are told that the targeting information is, in fact, old (pre 9/11) and although there is a surge in "chatter", there is no information that an attack is immenent. So what is a reasonable person left to believe? Unfortunately, as Ron Suskind reported in Esquire back in January, "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," says DiIulio. "What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."