"I call it being prepared, aware and alert." "Look what happened when we were "complacent"."

I've just finished the 911 report - I'll be glad to send you my copy, if you'd like.  The reason I bring it up is, it seems we were the former and not the latter of your comments -  and it happened anyway.  I'm not surprised, but I think it's a shame it's been politicized.  I'm pretty sure 911 would've happened under any administration, so I think it's wrong to assign blame to any one administration for intel failures.

"Should we ask them to just keep quiet about everything and hope for the best?"

Well, the least obvious thing to say here is "40 years of cold war can't be wrong".  I think people have been sufficiently traumatized by 911 to be prepared, aware and alert.  Of course, if an administration finds any new (as in not stale, 4 year old) information, they should share it with local officials and perhaps the public.  But just like police don't like vigilantes, I think anti-terrorism activities are best left with the people who are trained for it.  What more could James Woods have done to prevent 911? 

Apparently our intel was poor with regards to the middle east.  I know they're working on it, but it's still in need of repair.  I don't think the answer is bigger government and I'm surprised a republican cabinet does.   Terror alerts, as they are currently being implemented, seem to have a lot less to do with protecting people and a lot more to do with alarming them.