The much-maligned, much-mocked Homeland Security Advisory System, a Sesame Street-style color chart designed to indicate to Americans how scared of terrorism they should be, has been in existence since March 11, 2002, when it was signed into existence by President Bush. Now, it’s expected that the Homeland Security Advisory System of color-coded terror warnings will be eliminated by the Obama Administration, to be replaced with some other system sometime in April. Department of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano is expected to make the announcement today.
The top Republican on the House Homeland Security Commission welcomes the change. Said Representative Peter King of New York, “Though the system served a valuable purpose in the terrible days and months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, it was clearly time for the current color-coded system to be replaced with a more targeted system. I know they have been working on this for a long time. It sounds to me like the changes they are proposing make sense. We will have to wait and see how they implement this new, more targeted system. I expect the biggest challenge for DHS will be balancing the need to provide useful and timely information with the need to protect sensitive information.”
The color-coded threat level system, which contains five levels, is designed to indicate rick of a terrorist attack on America, either in specific situations or in general. The default level is yellow. The five levels are green for low, blue for guarded, yellow for elevated, orange for high, and red for severe. The color code has been elevated to orange only five times and red only once (on the day of the British terror attacks, and then only on flights coming over to the US from Britain).
Tags: Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Advisory System, threat level, color-coded threat level system to be eliminated, Janet Napolitano, airport security, terrorism, terrorism warning system to be eliminated, current terror warning system to change in April, House Homeland Security Commission, color warning system, terrorism advisory