Perhaps underscoring the irony of the Terror Alert Level fluctuation, there's this story, told to me by a witness:

This afternoon, a man whose complexion suggested he might be of Middle Eastern descent was noticed extensively photographing a major Chicago landmark hotel. For over an hour. Numberous photographs were apparently taken of the hotel's entrance and immediate surroundings, including significant attention devoted to nearby railroad tracks running through nearby Grant Park.

Due to the man's unusual interest in the hotel's entryway, hotel security was notified, and they caught up with the man a block away. At first, he pretended not to understand English. Then, after several minutes, he began claiming in broken English to be a Russian tourist who had every right to photograph whatever he wanted. He claimed not to have any identification. When security noticed a passport in his shirt pocket and explained that that would suffice as identification, the man was reluctant. Security then pointed out that the passport color was not correct for a Russian national. The man then flashed -- very quickly -- what seemed to be an Israeli passport. When asked to wait for the Chicago Police Department to send a representative to the scene to assist with the security inquiry, the man fled.

For reasons which will be clearer in a few weeks, there's additional significance here, but for now, all I can say is that hopefully, this is the last we'll hear of this story.