Transit alert at yellow, Metro commandos relax

Homeland Security officials have decided to reduce the terror alert level for mass transit systems from orange (Ernie) back to yellow (Bert), effective this evening:

"These changes will be effective at 8:00 p.m. local time on Friday, August 12, following local rush hours across the country, at the discretion of state and local authorities," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. The department had raised the alert level to a "high" risk of attack from "elevated" on July 7, after bombings on the London transport system killed more than 50 people. "At this time there is no specific, credible intelligence information indicating that an attack in the United States is imminent," Chertoff said.

I guess this means Metro's elite, Israeli-trained, sales tax-funded, counterterrorism commando squad can stand down. Those guys were getting sleepy anyway.