Sign Language

Back in college I had a Soviet studies professor whose office was decorated with lurid, humorless security posters from the U.S.S.R. I thought they were artifacts peculiar to repressive, secrecy-obsessed regimes -- until I started covering the Pentagon.
On bulletin boards, doors and office walls throughout the building, my colleagues and I would find dozens of security posters and signs of varying quality and message some of them just as spooky as those Soviet posters in my professors office (and some still focused on the Soviets, for that matter). My favorite, which one of my co-workers was kind enough to swipe for me, was a warning to government officials about to travel abroad. Get your travel threat briefing before departing, it screamed, the words surrounded by hideous, bloody drawings of what might happen to if you weren't careful hostage situations, attacks in cafs, etc.
These kinds of signs have been around a long time, of course. Here?s one of the all-time classics. (Some, though, were pretty horrible.)
Now, theyre official policy according to military regulations, such security warnings have to be displayed in certain areas.
But do they work? Consider this: According to an Army security manual, after a while, a security poster, no matter how well designed, will be ignored; it will, in effect, simply blend into the environment. For this reason, awareness techniques should be creative and frequently changed.
There are quite a few signs and posters online. Some are, in fact, creative. Some are attempts at humor. Most fail. And some are just plain weird. (Really weird. And what's up with all the kids?)
Here's a sampling of some of the best -- and worst.

* Bad guys can be anywhere. And everywhere. No, really.
* Consider: Aliens. Clowns. Vampires. And . . .this guy.
* Remember Ames? Hanssen? Any of these charmers ring a bell?
* This one's an award-winner. This one's probably not.
* Watch that trash. And those carpoolers.
* Finally: European pigeons. The three little pigs. And Santa.