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other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

Fortress America

By Julia Turner
Updated Friday, Feb. 21, 2003, at 2:11 PM ET
New York Times Magazine

New York Times Magazine, Feb. 23
Securing the United States against domestic terrorism could cost upward of $100 billion a year, reports the cover story, which surveys the existing techniques (video surveillance; database dumps; Jersey dividers) and emerging ones (national IDs that track individuals electronically; airplane-style oxygen masks for subway cars; sophisticated harbor surveillance systems that keep watch on small boats). You don't have to imagine what Fortress America would look like—just visit Israel, where armed guards and checkpoints are everywhere, even the mall. ... William Safire's language column traces the back-story of the phrase, "the balloon is going up" (not to be confused with "trial balloon"). The origin appears to be military—related to an observation, signal, or barrage (bomb) balloon. But why doesn't the earliest citation, from a 1924 novel, have any military context?—J.S.

Newsweek and Time

Newsweek and Time, Feb. 24
Both newsmagazines scramble to spin some mileage out of last week's story that wasn't—the elevated terror-alert level and the duct-tape buying hysteria that ensued. Newsweek goes for a pop science spin in its cover story, which chronicles the body's biological response to fear. Apparently, when you're afraid your body marshals its resources in fascinatingly extreme ways that can tax your overall health. The piece cites one woman who dropped dead from fear itself in a 1994 earthquake, and one admires the magazine's restraint in avoiding the inevitable Roosevelt quote. … More interesting is a piece inside that asserts that the Bush administration's decision to raise the level of alert to code orange was "based partly on bogus information sold by a couple of unreliable informants." Newsweek goes on to argue that our intel comes from "experts whose careers can only be ruined by underestimating the threat."

Time's piece on homeland security doesn't question the raised alert level but does warn that the United States doesn't have reliable systems to deal with chemical and biological attacks. The story lists fire departments that can't afford haz-mat suits, sheriffs who learn about terror threats on CNN, and a number of other holes in the nation's defenses. The culprit? No money. … In an interview, Jacques Chirac reveals that he "worked as a forklift operator for Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis and as a soda jerk at Howard Johnson's." (He also says that he opposes war because it will create a lot of "little Bin Ladens.")

U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 24
A cover package on the state of our nation's workforce argues that Americans are logging ever crazier hours because workers "chose the path of consumption over leisure." … A piece on management fads wonders if "the trend of business trends [is] coming to an end" but concludes, after summarizing a long history of management styles, that we'll have no such luck." … A story on employment opportunities argues that this recession has hit white-collar workers the hardest but suggests that there are many options available, especially for workers willing to switch fields. Now hiring: specialized nurses, librarians, and slot-machine technicians, among others.

—Jack Shafer, Slate's editor at large, also contributed to this column.

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Julia Turner is Slate's deputy editor. You can e-mail her at .
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