Update on hospital alert

In reading an article from the May 4, 2005 issue of the New York Sun, the alert issued to hospitals seems to be more alarming.

Although the department said it knows of no specific terrorist plot, the bulletin said: "These most recent nationwide impersonations are more noteworthy when seen in the broader context with similar incidents which have occurred from October 2004 to February 2005." The letter went on to detail a series of incidents in that period in which people were caught taking unauthorized pictures of hospitals, asking for hospital blueprints, requesting information about the whereabouts of medicines that would be used in biological attacks, and inquiring about the institutions' capacity for cardiac care, trauma care, helicopter access, and private rooms.

One can only speculate as to why hospitals are being cased in this manner. But it calls to mind the realization that similar actions were performed on banks, Wall Street, and other financial institutions prior to the alert level being elevated higher.

Also, the article noted that similar actions were reported at a Los Angeles hospital.