Report Finds US Color-coded Alert System Baffle Public

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Report Finds US Color-coded Alert System Baffle Public

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A US Congressional report found that the government's color-coded terrorist alert system is so vague in detailing threats that the public "may begin to question the authenticity" of the threats and take no action when the alert level is raised.

The review by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan branch of the Library of Congress, offered lawmakers options for replacing or overhauling the system, including a proposal that the five-color palette of alert levels be replaced with "general warnings concerning the threat of terrorist attacks," The New York Times reported Sunday.

The report, which has not been made public, has been circulated to members of the Congress involved in oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the color-coded alerts.

The report does not recommend that the alert system, called the Homeland Security Advisory System, or H.S.A.S., be scrapped or suggest any other specific action.

"This report seriously calls into question the value of the Homeland Security color-code system," said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, a leading critic of the system.

"The vagueness that characterized the four increases in the threat condition in the past two years has raised concerns that the public may begin to question the authenticity of the H.S.A.S. threat level," the report said.

The Homeland Security Department has acknowledged that the system, which went into operation in March last year, needs adjustment.

Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that agency officials had not seen the Congressional report but that they continued to believe the color-coded alerts were valuable.

The nation's current alert level is set at yellow, representing an "elevated" level of terrorist threat. The level has been raised to orange ("high") four times, most recently in May, after terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. It has never fallen below yellow to blue ("guarded") or green ("low"), nor has it ever been raised to red ("severe"), the highest level of alert.

The color-coded system has been a constant target of criticism from state and local government leaders, who say their law enforcement budgets are strained whenever the national threat level is raised.

The system has created particular confusion in rural, sparsely populated parts of the country that appear to face no obvious terrorist threat but have been expected to step up security nonetheless when the national alert is raised.

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