Security

Color-Coded Threat Level Advisory Under Attack

The often-spoofed, color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System may get an overhaul – moving from five colors to three in a bid to win the public trust. The nation has been at Yellow, “an elevated significant risk of terrorist attacks” for three years. International and domestic flights have been at an Orange “high risk of terrorist […]

dhs-threat1The often-spoofed, color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System may get an overhaul – moving from five colors to three in a bid to win the public trust.

The nation has been at Yellow, "an elevated significant risk of terrorist attacks" for three years. International and domestic flights have been at an Orange "high risk of terrorist attacks" for the same period.

A proposal by the Homeland Security Advisory Council, unveiled late Tuesday, recommends removing two of the five colors, with a standard state of affairs being a "guarded" Yellow. The Green "low risk of terrorist attacks" might get removed altogether, meaning stay prepared for your morning subway commute to turn deadly at any moment.

The Threat Level advisory system was set up in 2002 in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks and has changed 17 times -- the last in 2006. It has never been lowered to Green "low risk of terrorist attacks" or the Blue "general risk of terrorist attacks."

"There is currently indifference to the public Homeland Security Advisory System and, at worst, there is a disturbing lack of public confidence in the system," the council wrote Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary.

The 19-member panel's recommendations are not binding. Panel membership ranges from Miami Mayor Manny Diaz to Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo Nation. Some members supported scrapping the color-coded system.

But the group said the public should feel confident in a new three-color rating system because, "for reasons of public credibility," the scale won't be politicized and instead the government "should elevate the threat status only when compelled to do so in the interest of public safety and security."

That statement comes two weeks after Tom Ridge, the former Homeland Security secretary, wrote in a new book, the Test of Our Times, that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft unsuccessfully lobbied him to raise the threat level days before the 2004 elections, in a bid to seal President George W. Bush's re-election.

"Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level, and was supported by Rumsfeld," Ridge writes. "There was absolutely no support for that position within our department. None. I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?'"

The new system, if approved by the agency, would consist solely of Yellow, Orange and Red.

Here are the new meanings:

  • Yellow = Guarded – "A constant state of vigilance to protect against a terrorist attack."
  • Orange = Elevated – "Increased protective measures based on specific threat information regarding a known or suspected terrorist plot."
  • Red = High Alert – "Maximum protective measures to protect against an imminent or ongoing terrorist attack."

Don't forget to stock up on duct tape.

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