According to CNN.com, the Bush administration has decided to end around-the-clock combat air patrols over New York City. Instead, Bush has decided on intermittent patrols and a plan to keep fighter jets on "strip alert," ready to fly in 15 minutes.
Exactly when this new plan will take effect will not be revealed in the interests of security, but in this case, enough has already been revealed.
First, Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge announced to the world a color-coded system of alerts ranging from green (low alert) to red (high alert).
Now reports of Operation Anaconda coming to a close are followed by reports that the United States is further relaxing its guard by letting up on air patrols over New York.
These are not the actions of a president who, just six months ago, announced he would make terror elimination the goal of his term of office. These are also not the actions of an administration bent on securing the United States or the world from "terrorists and those countries who harbor them."
Now is not the time to let our guard down, and it is certainly not the time to advertise it to the whole world. If the intentions are to put the American people at ease, the intentions are off the mark. Ridge's color scheme is a neon sign that may as well read, "Strike now, we're not looking." The lightening of air patrols only adds to that vulnerability.
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