Coinciding with Attorney General Eric Holder telling ABC News this week that “the American people would be surprised by the depth of the [homegrown terrorist] threat” while discussing his growing concern about Americans becoming radicalized and turning to terrorism, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Council on Foreign Relations that it is incumbent that citizens pay attention to their surroundings for anything suspicious and out of place, and to report it to proper authorities.
What To Do If You Spot Suspicious Terrorist Activity
If you see suspicious behavior, do not confront the individuals involved.
Take note of the details:
S – Size (Jot down the number of people, gender, ages, and physical descriptions)
A – Activity (Describe exactly what they are doing)
L – Location (Provide exact location)
U – Uniform (Describe what they are wearing, including shoes)
T – Time (Provide date, time, and duration of activity)
E – Equipment (Describe vehicle, make, color etc., license plate, camera, guns, etc)
Suspicious activity is often recalled after an event. We must train ourselves to be on the lookout for things that are out of the ordinary and arouse suspicions.
Read more on how to spot suspicious activity and what to do.
Related Articles
- Terrorists figure out how to get America to attack itself: leave harmless, “suspicious” bags around (boingboing.net)
- Anti-terrorist hotline ad banned (telegraph.co.uk)
- iWatch lets public report suspicious behavior (abclocal.go.com)
I don’t find myself aligned with Mrs. Napolitano very often but it is a dead on fact that the average patriotic American has been under used in the fight against terror. The more information that is released to the public (without tipping off potential terrorists), the better. I believe that citizens need to be educated in the same way we are educated about the H1N1 virus. The biggest threat to our collective health is terrorism but most people don’t realize it. It has been very quiet lately and that is scary. I guess my point is this: If you see something that is even mildly suspicious; don’t hesitate to make someone aware of it just because “you” don’t think it is significant, or because you think you’re being racially/religously biased.
One month Napolitano considers the civilian population a potential terrorist threat and the next an asset to our country and its security.What will her view of American citizens be next year ?