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It's useful in that it raises the alert level in the general population (in addition to the more cynical motives posited by others). "crying wolf" or "alertnes

It's useful in that it raises the alert level in the general population (in addition to the more cynical motives posited by others). "crying wolf" or "alertness fatigue" might be an issue if this was a frequent thing, but it isn't. It also presumably can be timed to coincide with recent attacks when there is genuine intelligence; the events in the news acting as cover for the intelligence which doesn't necessarily need to be acknowledged as a reason for raising the level.

neltnerb 6y ago
Am I reading correctly that since 2006 it has never gone below "SUBSTANTIAL"? From their description: SUBSTANTIAL means an attack is likely SEVERE means an attack is highly likely CRITICAL means an attack is highly likely in the near future Saying an attack is at least "likely" for 14 straight years is definitely going to cause fatigue. I might be misunderstanding it and hopefully they just mean those specific days there was a risk and every other day they didn't think there was. But why then would they bother having a level for "LOW means an attack is highly unlikely" if they only flagged risky days? If it weren't constantly elevated wouldn't they flag the vast majority of dates as "LOW"? I think that no, they are flagging every day as having a terrorist attack "likely"!
- howlgarnish 6y ago
  Because if a bureaucrat officially states that risk is LOW and an attack happens, that bureaucrat's own ass is now at risk. So keeping it at SUBSTANTIAL keeps that ass covered. Incidentally, this also applies to travel advisories, which are very quick to ratchet up the threat level and very slow to climb down.
- freeflight 6y ago
  > I think that no, they are flagging every day as having a terrorist attack "likely"! They indeed do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Threat_Levels#Changes_to_threat_levels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Threat_Levels#Changes_to_th...

neltnerb 6y ago

Am I reading correctly that since 2006 it has never gone below "SUBSTANTIAL"? From their description: SUBSTANTIAL means an attack is likely SEVERE means an attack is highly likely CRITICAL means an attack is highly likely in the near future Saying an attack is at least "likely" for 14 straight years is definitely going to cause fatigue. I might be misunderstanding it and hopefully they just mean those specific days there was a risk and every other day they didn't think there was. But why then would they bother having a level for "LOW means an attack is highly unlikely" if they only flagged risky days? If it weren't constantly elevated wouldn't they flag the vast majority of dates as "LOW"? I think that no, they are flagging every day as having a terrorist attack "likely"!

howlgarnish 6y ago
Because if a bureaucrat officially states that risk is LOW and an attack happens, that bureaucrat's own ass is now at risk. So keeping it at SUBSTANTIAL keeps that ass covered. Incidentally, this also applies to travel advisories, which are very quick to ratchet up the threat level and very slow to climb down.
freeflight 6y ago
> I think that no, they are flagging every day as having a terrorist attack "likely"! They indeed do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Threat_Levels#Changes_to_threat_levels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Threat_Levels#Changes_to_th...