Homeland Security Advisory System

In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System is a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels trigger specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affect the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It is often called the "terror alert level" by the U.S. media.

History
The system was created by Presidential Directive 3 six months after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people." It was unveiled March 12, 2002, by Tom Ridge, then the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, but responsibility for developing, implementing and managing the system was given to the U.S. Attorney General.

In January 2003, the new Department of Homeland Security began administering the system. The decision to publicly announce threat conditions is made by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, according to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5.

Description
The scale consists of five color-coded threat levels, which are intended to reflect the probability of a terrorist attack and its potential gravity.


 * Severe (red): severe risk
 * High (orange): high risk
 * Elevated (yellow): significant risk
 * Guarded (blue): general risk
 * Low (green): low risk

The specific government actions triggered by different threat levels are not always revealed to the public, although the government does provide general guidance for civilians and federal agencies. Typical actions include increasing police and other security presence at landmarks and other high-profile targets, more closely monitoring international borders and other points of entry, ensuring that emergency response personnel are ready, and, in some cases, deploying members of the National Guard and State Guard to assist local law enforcement on security details.

Some actions, such as systematic forced searches of automobiles without probable cause near airports, are questionable under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment. No court has yet ruled on a specific search triggered by this threat advisory system.

The published terror alert notices have urged American citizens, especially those traveling in the transportation systems, "to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately." In addition, people have been warned to prepare an emergency preparedness kit and a family emergency plan.

Criticism of the system
There are no published criteria for the threat levels, and thus no independent way to tell whether the current threat level is accurate. The threat levels Green (low risk) and Blue (general risk) have never been used. Thus the five level system becomes, in practice, a three-level system. The evidence cited to justify changes in threat levels has been stated vaguely (see below) and its sources have seldom been revealed. This lack of disclosure makes the system vulnerable to manipulation by government officials. These attributes have been criticized by cartoonists, journalists, entertainers, civil libertarians, and security experts.

The alert level was raised once in 2004, an election year, leading some critics to speculate that the Bush Administration used them for political rather than strictly security reasons. Columbia University academic Brigitte L. Nacos has published a study identifying a correlation between increases in terrorism alert levels and Bush's popularity.

In December 2004, the Homeland Security Advisory Council voted to review the color-coded system. One panel member suggested that it had outlived its usefulness. In a public forum, Ridge conceded the system had invited "questions and even occasional derision." Ridge also said that he had not always agreed when others pushed to raise the threat level. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment," Ridge said. "Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on [alert]. ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?'"

On its terror alert page, the United States Department of Homeland Security makes clear that "Raising the threat condition has economic, physical, and psychological effects on the nation." In an article for CounterPunch, Kurt Nimmo links prolonged states of elevated, high, and severe risk to an increase of anxiety and paranoia in the general American population. He goes on to criticize the Bush Administration and its use of the Advisory System as manipulative and complicit in supporting a culture of fear in the United States.

Threat level changes


Although the system consists of five levels, the threat level has never been lowered on a nationwide basis to Guarded (Blue) or Low (Green), although the state of Hawaii lowered it to Guarded for several months in 2003. The threat level has stood at Elevated (Yellow) for most of its existence. In New York City it has stayed at High (Orange) since the start of the system.

Severe (Red)
The Homeland Security Advisory System has been raised to Severe only once, which applied only to flights coming from the United Kingdom:


 * August 10, 2006 - August 14, 2006, in response to British law enforcement announcing it had disrupted a major terror plot to blow up aircraft, the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level for commercial flights from the United Kingdom to the United States to Severe.

High (Orange)
On a blanket, nationwide level, it has been raised to High five times:


 * September 10 - September 24, 2002, around the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
 * February 7 - February 27, 2003, near the end of the Muslim religious holiday Hajj. Intelligence reports suggested the possibility of terrorist attacks against "apartment buildings, hotels, and other soft or lightly secured targets."
 * March 17 - April 16, 2003, around the beginning of U.S. and Coalition military action in Iraq.
 * May 20 - May 30, 2003, after the Riyadh compound bombings and the Casablanca bombings. According to Tom Ridge: "The U.S. Intelligence Community believes that Al Qaeda has entered an operational period worldwide, and this may include terrorist attacks in the United States."
 * December 21, 2003 - January 9, 2004, citing intelligence information suggesting large-scale attacks around the holiday season.

In addition, the alert has been raised to High on a select or partial basis three times:


 * August 1 - November 10, 2004, for specific financial institutions in northern New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C., citing intelligence pointing to the possibility of a car or truck bomb attack, naming specific buildings as possible targets.
 * July 7, 2005 - August 12, 2005, for mass transit systems only. The DHS secretary announced the level after the 7 July 2005 London bombings despite the absence of "specific, credible information suggesting imminent attack" in the United States.
 * August 10, 2006 - Present, for all domestic airline flights and all international flights to or from the United States, with the exception of flights from the United Kingdom to the United States. Flights from the United Kingdom to the United States had been under a severe alert, but were downgraded to a high alert on August 14, 2006.

Other terror warnings
Other official terrorism warnings issued without raising the threat level above Elevated:


 * May 28, 2004, citing "credible evidence" of terrorist intent to affect upcoming elections.
 * July 8, 2004, again citing "credible evidence" of terrorist intent to affect upcoming elections.
 * July 11, 2007, reports that Al Qaeda has rebuilt operating capability, strength to level not seen before the September 11, 2001 attacks; strongest since summer of 2001.
 * July 12, 2007, reports that Al Qaeda is stepping up efforts to sneak terrorists into the United States and has rebuilt capability to strike here.