Experts see holes in Europe's terror planning

European countries must give their people better information about what to do in case of terror attacks and pay more attention to the risk of strikes outside their capitals, homeland security experts say.

Some believe Europe would be better served by a colour-coded warning system, as in the United States, to tell its citizens when the threat is greatest.

And they note that the chaotic handling of recent emergencies, from Britain's fuel blockade crisis in 2000 to the European heatwave that killed thousands of old people this summer, highlights worrying coordination problems.

In the latest high-profile anti-terror drill, firefighters in green protective suits poured into the London Underground on Sunday to rescue "casualties" from a train trapped in a tunnel following a simulated chemical attack.

While experts say such exercises are useful, they tend to focus only on capitals.

"We've certainly seen that terrorist groups like al Qaeda and its followers have hit soft targets," said Kevin A. O'Brien, senior policy analyst at the Rand Europe think-tank.

"While the capitals of most of these (European) countries are quite geared up, and as prepared as they probably can be, it's outside of the capitals that are the key concern."

Better public information is another priority. Typical of the type of advice available is that of Britain's Home Office, which tells people on its Web site to "go in, stay in and tune in" to the radio in the event of an attack.

"That presupposes that you have the time to do that, that there's some advance warning. If you're already contaminated by something, 'going in, staying in and tuning in' is probably a bit late," said Garth Whitty of the Royal United Services Institute in London.

He said while some work had been done to inform the public in Britain, "I don't think it's sufficient and nor do I think it's sufficiently readily available to the population at large".

In the United States, a five-level colour-coded warning system advises citizens of the perceived threat of terrorist attacks. It currently shows yellow (elevated), the middle level.

"If you're on a very high state of alert, you as an individual have a choice about which scenarios you put yourself in," such as travelling by plane or underground, says British academic Frank Gregory, a proponent of the colour-code system.

But the Home Office says it prefers separate warning systems in key sectors such as aviation and public utilities, rather than a blanket system that could cause public alarm and hurt the economy.

Among major European countries, only France has a system resembling the American model. Its 'Plan Vigipirate' system now shows 'orange', the second lowest of four possible levels.

In terms of civil defence, Whitty highlighted the Swedes and Norwegians as among the best prepared Europeans to deal with a terror attack.

"They didn't stand down their civil defence capability (after) the collapse of the Soviet Union, they retained it. They've got a very good mass decontamination capability, for example, which they've maintained," he said.