So the US government raised the terror alert to Orange -- ostensibly because the Department of Homeland Security has caught some "chatter" by terrorist organizations that lead the big kahunas to believe that there is a plan to launch a big attack on the US.

What I don't get is this: if Tom Ridge knows what the terrorists up to, why doesn't he just tell the Army or Marines or whoever, and get them to stop the attack before it happens, rather than raising the terror alert and getting holiday shoppers to piss in their pants at some vague threat?