AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION MEN: CYA catchphrase taught to Americans
"Out of an abundance of caution" [or "in an . . . ] is one uniquely American p.r. catchphrases that's wormed its way into everyone's vocabulary in the war on terror. Whenever there is a false alarm, a turning of things upside down because of overheard electronic chatter, the spying of a troublesome woman or a man speaking unintelligibly on an airplane, a sketchy or nonexistent plot, anything that makes Homeland Security uncomfortable, the phrase is deployed. The mainstream news media does its part, requiring the response and distributing it through hundreds of duplicate stories.
Since the phrase flows smoothly from officialdom, even under the cover of anonymity, DD figures it must be taught in corporate-speak seminars on what to say to avoid compounding the chance of litigation, perhaps like a Dale Carnegie course on how to make friends and influence people in which the enrolled are taught how to smile.
With official GlobalSecurity.Org Senior Fellow T-shirt on, DD went through the archives of "abundance of caution" stories, carefully screening out the ones about contaminated scallions and Taco Bell, students being frisked for weapons in public school and corporate lawyers explaining why a company is about to stop doing the right thing because it costs too much money.
Since the Osama bin Virus "threat" to banking was just a few days ago, it's also excluded.
"One of the many important functions of the Department of Homeland Security is to be a credible warning system against potential terrorist attacks," wrote Dan Moffet of the Palm Beach Post in "Grocery Clerk Threat Neutralized," one of the few humorous pieces to use the phrase in the recent storm over icky Jake, the NFL dirty bomb hoaxer.
"One of the worst mistakes the government could make is to compromise its credibility with the public by putting out loud warnings about threats that are too remote to be taken seriously. The words 'abundance of caution' come into play here. If the nation hears them too often, it will stop listening. We don't want that . . .There were plenty of reasons to see this for what it was -- another preposterous Internet hoax put out by someone with way too much time and way too few IQ points . . . "
On August 6:
"Three Egyptian college students were arrested in Minnesota and New Jersey yesterday after a nationwide alert by the FBI, which said the men were among a group of 11 students who had disappeared after failing to show up for an exchange program at Montana State University.
"Authorities said yesterday that preliminary questioning of the three men, along with interviews with friends and relatives overseas, had revealed no apparent ties to terrorist or criminal groups.
"The episode is the latest in a series of cases since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have gone to great lengths to locate individuals even when there is no clear evidence of a threat.
" 'In the post-9/11 world, the rules have changed,' Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, said in a statement about the case earlier this week. 'The U.S. wants to assure that foreign students that register to come to the U.S. attend the schools for which they were granted a visa. This is simply out of an abundance of caution.'
Although students are said to be welcome, these students were immediately put on the fast track for deportation.
On the X-raying of shoes, in August:
"Machines used at most airports to scan hand-held luggage, purses, briefcases and shoes have not been upgraded to detect explosives since [a] report was issued.
"TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion. 'We do not have a specific threat regarding shoes,' Clark said. 'In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats . . .' "
Also in August, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger sent the National Guard into LAX out of an abundance of caution stemming from the blow-up over the British liquid bomb plot.
"Some 300 Guard troops were to be deployed by late Thursday to at least three large airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland where direct flights from Europe were scheduled to arrive.
"The troops were to remain at the airports until the nation's threat-alert level is lowered, an aide to the governor said. Their precise role would be determined by airport authorities, said Adjutant General William H. Wade II, the head of the California National Guard.
"[Schwarzenegger's California]homeland security director, Matthew Bettenhausen, said 'specific cities and targets were not known to be part of the plot.' Bettenhausen formerly worked for the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.
"Bettenhausen also said that because 21 suspects were arrested in England, 'it was believed the plot was disrupted.' But, he said, government agencies were acting out of an abundance of caution, mindful of the risk that other plotters had not been apprehended, or that copycats might try to 'take advantage of this.' "
In July, a troublesome woman and a confusing man tripped the gendarmes of Homeland Security on a commuter flight out of Rochester, New York.
"During the interview, the woman complained of chest pains and requested her bag, which authorities believed had been placed on the plane. About the same time, [a] man made a confusing comment about a suicide bomber, which prompted the agents to call for the plane's return to Rochester, [an official] said.
"The comment was the result of a communication barrier and the call for the plane was made 'out of an abundance of caution,' he said."
Also in July, an abundance of caution was practiced in NYC due to a nebulous plot alleged to be aimed at subways.
"The New York Police Department has posted additional officers in lower Manhattan in recent weeks in response to the unfolding plot to blow up PATH train tunnels in the Hudson River, Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
" 'Riders in the New York City subway system may have seen additional officers on the system this morning,' Kelly said at a news conference at FBI headquarters. 'In an abundance of caution,' we put officers there - it just happened to be coincidental."
In March, although there was no credible terrorist threat to basketball arenas, out of an abundance of caution, Homeland Security issued a warning anyway.
"The FBI and Homeland Security Department distributed an intelligence bulletin to state and local law enforcement nationwide describing the online threat against sporting venues, said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.
" 'We have absolutely no credible intelligence or threats pertaining to this issue,' Kolko said.
"With conference tournaments taking place this weekend and the NCAA tournament scheduled to begin this week, the bulletin was sent 'out of an abundance of caution,' Kolko said."
In October of 2005, officials closed a Baltimore tunnel out of an abundance of caution. There was apparently no threat.
"Despite questions about the credibility of a threat to detonate vehicles full of explosives, officials said they had little choice but to close one of the busy tunnels underneath Baltimore's harbor and partially shut down the other for nearly two hours.
"One person who may have been connected to the threat was arrested on immigration charges . . ."
"State and local authorities closed the tunnels 'out of an abundance of caution,' said Jim Pettit, a spokesman for Gov. Robert Ehrlich's homeland security office."
From an accompanying story: "While the information was somewhat specific, to date, the intelligence community has not found evidence that corroborates the information."
On October 9, 2005, a largely ephemeral plot, said to come from Iraq, was announced out of an abundance of caution.
"A recent U.S. military raid on a terrorist group's hideout south of Baghdad, Iraq, netted intelligence that prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to warn Thursday that the metropolis' sprawling subway system faced an explicit threat of terrorist attacks . . .
"[A Homeland Security public relations man] said U.S. experts were continuing to evaluate the information but had passed it on to New York and New Jersey officials early on out of an 'abundance of caution.' "
In an accompanying story: "The terrorists were described as unemployed chemists who had recently taken a six-week explosive training course in Afghanistan." The alleged weapon of choice: bombs in baby carriages.
In September of 2005, a bioterror sensor either malfunctioned, rang a false positive, or was set way to low and informed authorities of a tularemia attack on the National Mall.
"Air sensors near the National Mall detected a possible disease agent last weekend during the Iraq war demonstrations, but health officials said Friday they believe the bacteria was picked up naturally and was not intentionally released.
"A low level sample of an airborne form of Tularemia bacterium from Saturday, Sept. 24 began a process of further sampling, which all tested negative . . ."
Said one official: "We thought - just to take an abundance of caution - to let everyone know what we knew."
In January of 2005, a nuisance from New Jersey activated federal response by aiming a small laser at a Cessna airplane.
"Federal officials charged a 38-year-old New Jersey man yesterday with willfully interfering with an aircraft after he allegedly admitted that he -- not his young daughter -- had aimed a green laser at a small Cessna Citation as it was approaching the airport in Teterboro, N.J.
"The Dec. 29 incident was one of several puzzling pilot reports of lasers aimed at aircraft over the holiday travel period.
" 'We have no credible intelligence of a terrorist group using lasers on the homeland,' FBI spokesman Bill Carter said. 'Out of an abundance of caution, we're asking the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate these issues and report them to the FBI.' "
"One Department of Homeland Security official said that the threat does not appear to be high. 'We haven't seen any threatening trend' that anyone is trying to test the system, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence information . . ."
And last, from TODAY, although the formal statement on abundance of caution has not yet been released, a woman with uncontrollable farting from a medical condition, troubled her fellow passengers and authorities, causing an American Airlines airplane to divert.
"A woman's attempt to cover up the nasty smell of her own flatulence caused an aircraft en route between Washington DC and Dallas to make an emergency landing . . .
"Passengers kicked up a stink when they caught a whiff of sulphur from burning matches and alerted cabin crew. The American Airlines plane was forced to divert to Nashville where all 99 passengers were evacuated [and bomb-sniffing dogs were summoned.']"
Here, at El Reg.
"Out of an abundance of caution" [or "in an . . . ] is one uniquely American p.r. catchphrases that's wormed its way into everyone's vocabulary in the war on terror. Whenever there is a false alarm, a turning of things upside down because of overheard electronic chatter, the spying of a troublesome woman or a man speaking unintelligibly on an airplane, a sketchy or nonexistent plot, anything that makes Homeland Security uncomfortable, the phrase is deployed. The mainstream news media does its part, requiring the response and distributing it through hundreds of duplicate stories.
Since the phrase flows smoothly from officialdom, even under the cover of anonymity, DD figures it must be taught in corporate-speak seminars on what to say to avoid compounding the chance of litigation, perhaps like a Dale Carnegie course on how to make friends and influence people in which the enrolled are taught how to smile.
With official GlobalSecurity.Org Senior Fellow T-shirt on, DD went through the archives of "abundance of caution" stories, carefully screening out the ones about contaminated scallions and Taco Bell, students being frisked for weapons in public school and corporate lawyers explaining why a company is about to stop doing the right thing because it costs too much money.
Since the Osama bin Virus "threat" to banking was just a few days ago, it's also excluded.
"One of the many important functions of the Department of Homeland Security is to be a credible warning system against potential terrorist attacks," wrote Dan Moffet of the Palm Beach Post in "Grocery Clerk Threat Neutralized," one of the few humorous pieces to use the phrase in the recent storm over icky Jake, the NFL dirty bomb hoaxer.
"One of the worst mistakes the government could make is to compromise its credibility with the public by putting out loud warnings about threats that are too remote to be taken seriously. The words 'abundance of caution' come into play here. If the nation hears them too often, it will stop listening. We don't want that . . .There were plenty of reasons to see this for what it was -- another preposterous Internet hoax put out by someone with way too much time and way too few IQ points . . . "
On August 6:
"Three Egyptian college students were arrested in Minnesota and New Jersey yesterday after a nationwide alert by the FBI, which said the men were among a group of 11 students who had disappeared after failing to show up for an exchange program at Montana State University.
"Authorities said yesterday that preliminary questioning of the three men, along with interviews with friends and relatives overseas, had revealed no apparent ties to terrorist or criminal groups.
"The episode is the latest in a series of cases since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have gone to great lengths to locate individuals even when there is no clear evidence of a threat.
" 'In the post-9/11 world, the rules have changed,' Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, said in a statement about the case earlier this week. 'The U.S. wants to assure that foreign students that register to come to the U.S. attend the schools for which they were granted a visa. This is simply out of an abundance of caution.'
Although students are said to be welcome, these students were immediately put on the fast track for deportation.
On the X-raying of shoes, in August:
"Machines used at most airports to scan hand-held luggage, purses, briefcases and shoes have not been upgraded to detect explosives since [a] report was issued.
"TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion. 'We do not have a specific threat regarding shoes,' Clark said. 'In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats . . .' "
Also in August, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger sent the National Guard into LAX out of an abundance of caution stemming from the blow-up over the British liquid bomb plot.
"Some 300 Guard troops were to be deployed by late Thursday to at least three large airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland where direct flights from Europe were scheduled to arrive.
"The troops were to remain at the airports until the nation's threat-alert level is lowered, an aide to the governor said. Their precise role would be determined by airport authorities, said Adjutant General William H. Wade II, the head of the California National Guard.
"[Schwarzenegger's California]homeland security director, Matthew Bettenhausen, said 'specific cities and targets were not known to be part of the plot.' Bettenhausen formerly worked for the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.
"Bettenhausen also said that because 21 suspects were arrested in England, 'it was believed the plot was disrupted.' But, he said, government agencies were acting out of an abundance of caution, mindful of the risk that other plotters had not been apprehended, or that copycats might try to 'take advantage of this.' "
In July, a troublesome woman and a confusing man tripped the gendarmes of Homeland Security on a commuter flight out of Rochester, New York.
"During the interview, the woman complained of chest pains and requested her bag, which authorities believed had been placed on the plane. About the same time, [a] man made a confusing comment about a suicide bomber, which prompted the agents to call for the plane's return to Rochester, [an official] said.
"The comment was the result of a communication barrier and the call for the plane was made 'out of an abundance of caution,' he said."
Also in July, an abundance of caution was practiced in NYC due to a nebulous plot alleged to be aimed at subways.
"The New York Police Department has posted additional officers in lower Manhattan in recent weeks in response to the unfolding plot to blow up PATH train tunnels in the Hudson River, Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
" 'Riders in the New York City subway system may have seen additional officers on the system this morning,' Kelly said at a news conference at FBI headquarters. 'In an abundance of caution,' we put officers there - it just happened to be coincidental."
In March, although there was no credible terrorist threat to basketball arenas, out of an abundance of caution, Homeland Security issued a warning anyway.
"The FBI and Homeland Security Department distributed an intelligence bulletin to state and local law enforcement nationwide describing the online threat against sporting venues, said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.
" 'We have absolutely no credible intelligence or threats pertaining to this issue,' Kolko said.
"With conference tournaments taking place this weekend and the NCAA tournament scheduled to begin this week, the bulletin was sent 'out of an abundance of caution,' Kolko said."
In October of 2005, officials closed a Baltimore tunnel out of an abundance of caution. There was apparently no threat.
"Despite questions about the credibility of a threat to detonate vehicles full of explosives, officials said they had little choice but to close one of the busy tunnels underneath Baltimore's harbor and partially shut down the other for nearly two hours.
"One person who may have been connected to the threat was arrested on immigration charges . . ."
"State and local authorities closed the tunnels 'out of an abundance of caution,' said Jim Pettit, a spokesman for Gov. Robert Ehrlich's homeland security office."
From an accompanying story: "While the information was somewhat specific, to date, the intelligence community has not found evidence that corroborates the information."
On October 9, 2005, a largely ephemeral plot, said to come from Iraq, was announced out of an abundance of caution.
"A recent U.S. military raid on a terrorist group's hideout south of Baghdad, Iraq, netted intelligence that prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to warn Thursday that the metropolis' sprawling subway system faced an explicit threat of terrorist attacks . . .
"[A Homeland Security public relations man] said U.S. experts were continuing to evaluate the information but had passed it on to New York and New Jersey officials early on out of an 'abundance of caution.' "
In an accompanying story: "The terrorists were described as unemployed chemists who had recently taken a six-week explosive training course in Afghanistan." The alleged weapon of choice: bombs in baby carriages.
In September of 2005, a bioterror sensor either malfunctioned, rang a false positive, or was set way to low and informed authorities of a tularemia attack on the National Mall.
"Air sensors near the National Mall detected a possible disease agent last weekend during the Iraq war demonstrations, but health officials said Friday they believe the bacteria was picked up naturally and was not intentionally released.
"A low level sample of an airborne form of Tularemia bacterium from Saturday, Sept. 24 began a process of further sampling, which all tested negative . . ."
Said one official: "We thought - just to take an abundance of caution - to let everyone know what we knew."
In January of 2005, a nuisance from New Jersey activated federal response by aiming a small laser at a Cessna airplane.
"Federal officials charged a 38-year-old New Jersey man yesterday with willfully interfering with an aircraft after he allegedly admitted that he -- not his young daughter -- had aimed a green laser at a small Cessna Citation as it was approaching the airport in Teterboro, N.J.
"The Dec. 29 incident was one of several puzzling pilot reports of lasers aimed at aircraft over the holiday travel period.
" 'We have no credible intelligence of a terrorist group using lasers on the homeland,' FBI spokesman Bill Carter said. 'Out of an abundance of caution, we're asking the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate these issues and report them to the FBI.' "
"One Department of Homeland Security official said that the threat does not appear to be high. 'We haven't seen any threatening trend' that anyone is trying to test the system, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence information . . ."
And last, from TODAY, although the formal statement on abundance of caution has not yet been released, a woman with uncontrollable farting from a medical condition, troubled her fellow passengers and authorities, causing an American Airlines airplane to divert.
"A woman's attempt to cover up the nasty smell of her own flatulence caused an aircraft en route between Washington DC and Dallas to make an emergency landing . . .
"Passengers kicked up a stink when they caught a whiff of sulphur from burning matches and alerted cabin crew. The American Airlines plane was forced to divert to Nashville where all 99 passengers were evacuated [and bomb-sniffing dogs were summoned.']"
Here, at El Reg.
posted by George Smith at 12:59 PM
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