ShareThisWASHINGTON - The unsuccessful underwear-bomb attack has triggered this question: Whither the color-coded terrorism threat system imposed after 9/11?
Long the butt of jokes by late-night TV hosts and discredited by some experts as both too simplistic and vulnerable to abuse for political purposes, the "Homeland Security Advisory System" is dangling in limbo.
The Christmas Day attempt to blow up a jetliner did not budge the nation from its overall "yellow" state, which means the threat of terrorism is "elevated." (That is where it has stood since January 2004, although specific sectors -- mass transit, commercial aviation, financial services -- have occasionally been boosted to "orange" when threats have been detected.)
Early in his White House term, President Barack Obama signaled the likely demise of the system, and the appointment of a task force to evaluate whether it should be refined or replaced.
The committee, which submitted its report in September, found itself split, with half of the members supporting the current system as "clear, powerful and easily understood," and the other half calling it deficient in credibility and clarity. Both camps agreed that refinements, at the very least, are needed.
So far, no action on the recommendations by Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano has come to light.
Cruise ships may be on course to become safer, but not in time for vacations this winter.
In November, the House passed a measure that would force, for the first time, a number of security requirements on the cruise-ship industry, which has been criticized for lax policies in the wake of on-board murders, rapes and falls.
Among the provisions: Ships would be required to report serious crimes that happen aboard to the FBI no matter if the ship is in international waters at the time. On-deck rails would have to stand at least 42 inches high to prevent passengers from falling overboard, and peep holes and secure latches would have to be installed in cabin doors to protect passengers from intruders. And special anti-retroviral medications used to prevent the transmission of AIDS from a sexual assault would have to be stocked.
The bill has laid dormant in the Senate since mid-November.
In Iraq, U.S. troops spend a considerable amount of mission-time in vehicles, or walking short-duration patrols. That means they don't carry much gear on their backs. In Afghanistan, Army soldiers are going on more long patrols, doing three-day rotations at remote observation posts and conducting helicopter assaults.
Picking up complaints that the backpacks available to those deployed to Afghanistan were too large and unwieldy, the Army is fielding a new pack and will test three prototypes soon, according to the Web site Military.com.
The new packs would have a capacity of 3,000 cubic inches of space, along with assorted inside and outside pockets and pouches.
Swine-flu anxiety may be waning as the number of cases declines and supplies of once-rare vaccine pile up, but the Food and Drug Administration is still warning consumers to beware of scams related to the pandemic.
Product lines shut down by the agency and the Federal Trade Commission this year have included assorted operations shipping fake or diluted Tamiflu pills -- one batch of which included acetaminophen and talc. A spray that claims to leave a coating of ionic silver on the hands to kill flu virus was pulled, as well as an electronic device that claims to boost the immune system with "deeply penetrating, mega-frequency life-force energy waves." And, for those worried about infection through hair follicles, the FDA put the kibosh on purported swine-flu shampoo.
Most understated recent statement: "Actions needed to prevent unintended public disclosures of U.S. nuclear sites and activities." -- Conclusion of a U.S. Government Accountability Office report on what its auditors learned from investigating the May 7 mistake by the Government Printing Office, which published on its public Web site 266 pages of detailed information on U.S. civilian nuclear sites, locations, facilities and activities.
(E-mail Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com. SHNS health and science correspondent Lee Bowman contributed to this column.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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