Can You Believe This #%&*????

So what was all the hype and hysteria about??? Turns out the Code Orange security alert for the past few days, issued for the financial districts of NY and Washington - including a building where my brother-in-law works - were based on THREE YEAR OLD INTELLIGENCE!! And it wasn't even intelligence about an attack, it was just intelligence about Al-Quaeda collecting information - much of it publicly available anyway - on the buildings involved.

The following news bulletin is hot off the wires from Reuters.com:

"Much of the information obtained by al Qaeda that led the United States to raise terror alerts in Washington and New York was at least three years old, and U.S. officials are unsure if the group's surveillance continues, according to published reports on Tuesday.

The Washington Post and The New York Times reported in Tuesday editions that officials were still analyzing documents seized late last month after a raid in Pakistan that showed al Qaeda surveillance of specific U.S. targets.

Documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches were recovered related to the capture of suspected al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, also known as Abu Talha, in July, officials said.

Much of the information that resulted from the arrest was compiled before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, The New York Times reported, citing intelligence and law enforcement officials.

Federal authorities said they are unsure whether al Qaeda's surveillance continues, the newspapers reported.

'You could say that the bulk of this information is old, but we know that al Qaeda collects, collects, collects until they're comfortable,' a senior government official was quoted in the Times as saying. 'Only then do they carry out an operation. And there are signs that some of this may have been updated or may be more recent.'

The Post cited officials as saying that much of the information al Qaeda gathered on buildings in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey, was obtained through the Internet or other 'open sources' available to the general public, including floor plans.

'What we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching of an attack,' said a senior American official quoted by the Post. "

Does anyone know the story of the boy who cried wolf? What happens if there ever IS a real and urgent security alert? Who will be take responsibility for the lives lost then?