---
title: Recognize the Signs of Terrorism-Related Suspicious Activity ("If You See Something, Say Something")
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/see-something-say-something-dhs/
description: Under the line 'Protect your every day', a cheerful landscape of homes, a stadium, a farm and a marina sits above fifteen icons of 'terrorism-related…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Recognize the Signs of Terrorism-Related Suspicious Activity ("If You See Something, Say Something")](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/see-something-say-something-dhs.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/see-something-say-something-dhs.jpg)

# Recognize the Signs of Terrorism-Related Suspicious Activity ("If You See Something, Say Something")

Under the line 'Protect your every day', a cheerful landscape of homes, a stadium, a farm and a marina sits above fifteen icons of 'terrorism-related suspicious activity', from 'expressed or implied threat' to 'eliciting information'. The call is to report to local authorities. The threat is placed in every ordinary setting, and nothing says how rare it is or what reports lead to.

- **Date:** 2018
- **Period:** [Contemporary](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=contemporary)
- **Made by:** U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 'If You See Something, Say Something' campaign
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Trump Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=trump-administration)
- **Leader:** [Donald Trump](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=donald-trump)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Warn or inform](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=warn-inform)
- **Theme:** [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance)
- **Techniques:** [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)
- **Regime:** [Trump administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/trump-administration/)
- **Leader:** [Donald Trump](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/trump-administration/#donald-trump)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DHS_seesomethingsaysomething_indicatorinfographic.pdf), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (U.S. government work, per Wikimedia Commons); slogan trademarked by the MTA https://www.dhs.gov/see-something-say-something

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Protect your every day.

RECOGNIZE THE SIGNS
OF TERRORISM-RELATED SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY

EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED THREAT
Threatening to commit a crime that could harm or kill people or damage a facility, infrastructure, or secured site

SURVEILLANCE
A prolonged interest in or taking pictures/videos of personnel, facilities, security features, or infrastructure in an unusual or covert manner

THEFT/LOSS/DIVERSION
Stealing or diverting items—such as equipment, uniforms, or badges—that belong to a facility or secured site

TESTING OR PROBING OF SECURITY
Investigating or testing a facility's security or IT systems to assess the strength or weakness of the target

AVIATION ACTIVITY
Operating or interfering with the operation of an aircraft that poses a threat of harm to people and property

BREACH/ATTEMPTED INTRUSION
Unauthorized people trying to enter a restricted area or impersonating authorized personnel

ACQUISITION OF EXPERTISE
Gaining skills or knowledge on a specific topic, such as facility security, military tactics, or flying an aircraft

ELICITING INFORMATION
Questioning personnel beyond mere curiosity about an event, facility, or operations

MISREPRESENTATION
Presenting false information or misusing documents to conceal possible illegal activity

CYBERATTACK
Disrupting or compromising an organization's information technology systems

RECRUITING/FINANCING
Funding suspicious or criminal activity or recruiting people to participate in criminal or terrorist activity

SABOTAGE/TAMPERING/VANDALISM
Damaging or destroying part of a facility, infrastructure, or secured site

MATERIALS ACQUISITION/STORAGE
Acquisition and/or storage of unusual materials such as cell phones, radio controllers, or toxic materials

WEAPONS COLLECTION/STORAGE
Collection or discovery of unusual amounts of weapons including explosives, chemicals, or other destructive materials

SECTOR-SPECIFIC INCIDENT
Actions which raise concern to specific sectors, (e.g., power plant) with regard to their personnel, facilities, systems, or functions

If you see something, say something®

REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES OR CALL 9-1-1 IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

dhs.gov/see-something-say-something

"If You See Something, Say Something®" used with permission of the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
```

[← 'Miners for Trump' rally poster (Internet Research Agency)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/miners-for-trump-ira-2016/) ['The trace of the Zionists in the Incident of Nine-eleven' khamenei.ir poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/khamenei-zionists-nine-eleven-poster-2018/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [豬叫取胎圖 (Picture of the Pig Sect Extracting a Foetus), from Reverently Obeying the Sacred Edict: A Complete Picture Gallery to Repel Heterodoxy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pig-cry-taking-foetus-hunan-1891/) (1891 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Colour woodblock caricature depicting foreign Christians as members of a 'pig' sect and showing them cutting a foetus from a woman; violence against a woman and derision of Christianity.
- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- [En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) (Jun 2, 1894 · Fear appeal)
- [劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895/) (1895 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Sífilis: Curación absoluta y radical en el Sanatorio para sifilíticos (Syphilis: Absolute and Radical Cure at the Sanatorium for Syphilitics)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sifilis-sanatorio-abreu-1900/) (1900 · Fear appeal)
- [時局圖 (The Situation in the Far East / Map of the Present Situation), newer version with English labels](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/situation-in-far-east-tse-tsan-tai-1900/) (1900 · Fear appeal)
