TerrorismDHS unveils new terrorism awareness ads
DHS secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled new television ads Wednesday for the public awareness campaign “If you see something, say something”; Napolitano said the videos are not intended to be alarmist, nor do they suggest only a vague threat, as did the security alert “color code” of years past
DHS secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled new television ads Wednesday for the public awareness campaign “If you see something, say something.”
“Today, we are stronger than we were on 9/11,” Napolitano said, but added, “There are no guarantees in this world.”
“What we can do is maximize our ability to prevent an attack from occurring, minimize the ability of such an attack having a large impact and increase our ability to respond.”
CNN reports that video of the new television ads was played during Napolitano’s remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. One of them is set in a public transit station, where pedestrians watch as someone pulls a handbag from the trunk of a car and leaves it on a bench in the waiting area.
With dramatic music in the background, the announcer intones, “It’s nothing, you think. Can you be sure?”
<>Napolitano said the videos are not intended to be alarmist, nor do they suggest only a vague threat, as did the security alert “color code” of years past.
“We want the public to live with information, but not to live in fear,” Napolitano said in response to a reporter’s question. “When they have information, that helps reduce the level of fear.”
“‘See something, say something’ is the same thing,” she said of the campaign, which was officially launched in February. It’s “what we would call situational awareness” by the public.
