By Rob Watson, Correspondent, Washington, 10 August 2004

On the morning of September 11th I was at home in Washington DC, finishing my breakfast, when the first plane hit the World Trade Centre.

About half an hour later I was looking at the smoke rising from the Pentagon just across the Potomac river as I tried to make my way to the White House.

So I take the threat alerts pretty seriously, if only because I see no evidence that Al-Qaeda has given up its ambition of hitting US targets.

Like most people I know, I don’t tend to make the connection to being in any personal danger. I confess that I’ve never made any contingency plans – as suggested by the Department of Homeland Security, though I don’t say that with any pride or macho. I guess I’ve always presumed we’d all be pretty busy filing stories.

I do at least have an idea of what the department recommends, which is to have a plan as to how to hook up with your loved ones in the case of an attack.

Rainbow of warnings

The department adds helpfully that you shouldn’t forget your pets. As if I’d ever leave my cat Vinnie to fend for himself.

This time we’re in election season and the Democrats among my friends and neighbours are convinced there’s something fishy going on. One friend says it is clearly a ruse to help George W Bush’s re-election.

In the broader sense both parties are playing politics with the issue. Democrats accuse the president of failing to do enough to protect America, and Republicans use such moments of heightened threat to describe him as a strong leader.

As to my colleagues here in the BBC bureau, most have responded with a British mix of stiff upper lipishness and wit to the alerts.

In response to an e-mail I sent round the bureau asking what they thought of living under the heightened alert, one wrote back: "I can’t tell you how I feel because I’m cowering under my desk and can’t reach the keyboard."

Like many Americans they seem to take the view that code orange and the rest of the rainbow of warnings are just part of life in the US today. That said, most people in this bureau, just like most Americans, do think another attack is inevitable.

Stroll into the White House

What worries them most is the thought of being out of town if another attack happens and missing out on covering the story. Crazy maybe, but true. Well, they are journalists.

Finally a note on the increased security. And here I can’t resist a meteorological metaphor. If it’s 100 degrees outside, you’re probably not going to notice if it hots up to 105.

Well, it’s a bit like that with security.

Although there are now more heavily armed police outside the IMF and the World Bank, and the odd road block and road closure, it wasn’t as if you could just stroll in to the White House and have a picnic on the lawn or enter any official building without going through the metal detectors even before these latest alerts.

Like most people here and in much of this country, I’ve forgotten what it was like to go anywhere without the routine of emptying keys, cellphone, chewing gum, shopping lists and assorted rubbish from about my person. I don’t expect any of that to change for years to come.

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