Homeland Security Advisory System

It was meant 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."

"[3][4][5] Inspired by the success of the forest fire color system, the scale consists of five color-coded threat levels, which were intended to reflect the probability of a terrorist attack and its potential gravity.

[7] Actions previously included increasing police and other security presence at landmarks and other high-profile targets, a closer monitoring of international borders and other points of entry, ensuring that emergency response personnel were ready, and, in some cases, deployment of members of the National Guard and State Guard were sent to assist local law enforcement on security details.

For example, in November 2002, the city of Columbus, Georgia, forced all people wishing to protest at the School of the Americas to first submit to a metal detector search.

[9] Even if the city did in fact rely on the alert system at the time it acted, said the court, We ... reject the notion that the Department of Homeland Security's threat advisory level somehow justifies these searches.

Supporters of the system defended this by stating that providing detailed, current intelligence about terror organizations would endanger the ability to gather similar information in the future.

Some critics[12] worried that the absence of clearly defined, objective criteria had allowed the baseline threat level to be established as elevated (yellow), thus precluding the system from ever dropping down to low (green) or general (blue).

[16] 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.

[17][18] In 2009, Ridge alleged in his book The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege ... and How We Can Be Safe Again that top aides to President Bush (including defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and attorney general John Ashcroft) pressured him to raise the alert level on the eve of the November 2004 presidential election.

'"[22] On its terror alert page, DHS made clear that "Raising the threat condition has economic, physical, and psychological effects on the nation.

For example, the list included a beach at the end of a street, a popcorn factory, a doughnut shop, and a petting zoo.

The task force was divided on whether to recommend abandonment of color-coding in the system, but asserted that if such a coding remains in use, "substantial reform is required.

[26] In August 2004, DHS began identifying specific sectors under possible threat, including aviation, financial services, and mass transit.