A Los Angeles firefighter checks casualties following a simulated dirty bomb attack at the Port of Los Angeles, August 5, 2004. The drill was a national exercise, madated by Congress, designed to combat a weapons of mass destruction terrorism attack. Last Sunday, the United States raised the terror level to orange or "high," the second-highest readiness for attack, in New York, Washington and New Jersey. Security officials have been scrambling to convince skeptics that the latest terror alert is real and not an election-year ploy, even if some of the threat information is several years old. REUTERS/John Hayes JH/GN