When you receive a warning from the FBI that something could happen, you should really ask for an expiry date of that information. This is the lesson that Springfield police learned the hard way when they reacted with all urgency on a warning received by FBI.
The teletype message that came from the FBI sounded urgent. FBI reported that a Springfield man had purchased a mail-order suicide kit and could be in danger. Springfield police wasted no time and responded immediately. Since nobody responded to the knocks on the man's front door, a police captain urged them to force their way into the home in case the man needed immediate help. Officers kicked in the front door but found nobody home.
The man who purchased a suicide kit - seven months earlier - was safe, working in his office in The Register-Guard's newsroom. He obviously ordered the suicide kit for his fellow reporter Randi Bjornstad, who at the time was researching the sale of the suicide kits. That story was researched, finished and published March 20. Unfortunately, it took FBI more than six months to send a warning to a local police and even then, they completely left out that they were sending a warning based on seven months old information!
I have to give credit to the Springfield police. The Springfield Police Department apologized and confirmed that they would pay for all damages to the man's home. The man in question also thanked the Springfield Police Department for taking it all seriously and making sure that he was OK.
FBI apologized to nobody! The official FBI statement was that "
When the FBI receives information that a person may cause harm to themselves or others, we will contact the appropriate agency so that agency, at their discretion, and within their own guidelines, may take whatever action they deem appropriate. The FBI does this out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the individual and the public." So, I guess that it would then be perfectly OK for FBI to send a teletype today to NYPD stating that there is a big terrorist action planned at the WTC?
Well... That's it regarding apologies. I guess that it is not in the job description of Federal agencies to apologize...