Photo: BL1961
A Newsweek report says President Obama may get rid of the color-coded terror alert system established after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Americans, let’s face it: Our previous president wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box.
He famously insisted that it was Sweden–not Switzerland–that has historically been neutral.
He coined more words than Webster and used many real words in combinations that can only be described as… unique.
And then, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he came up with a color-coded terror alert system: green for low risk of terrorist attacks; blue for guarded; yellow for elevated; orange for high; and red for–you guessed it!–severe threat of terrorist attacks.
In case you’re wondering, the current “national threat level,” as published by the Department of Homeland Security, is yellow, and for all domestic and international travel the threat level is orange.
But all that may be moot pretty soon. According to an article recently published by Newsweek, President Obama is “expected to create an official committee to consider modifying or even abolishing the widely ridiculed color-coded terrorism alert system introduced by the Bush administration….”
The committee, which will be comprised of local, state, and national officials and safety experts, will have 60 days to make a decision about the color-coded system’s future: modify it or scrap it completely. As one House Representative interviewed in the article said, the system “has become meaningless to the public,” and officials should “retire the fear card.”
Travelers, what do you think? Do you pay attention to the terror threat color scheme while you’re passing through airports? If the color-coded system is done away with, what should replace it? Share your thoughts below.
Community Connection:
Check out this popular post from our archives: Anti-Bush Graffiti: 25 Countries, Six Continents.
About the Author
More By This Author
Related Posts
9 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
Oh, you non-Americans are missing out on so much.
↵ -
Britain and France (and probably others) have had color-coded alert systems for longer than the United States.
I suspect that the U.S. Attorney General just based the U.S. system on the British BIKINI system.
↵ -
I never understood the color-code alert system. What exactly are you supposed to do differently between yellow and orange? Quite frankly it doesn’t provide anymore protection measures from one color to the next. The only thing it accomplishes effectively is scaring people for no reason.
↵ -
Thank God. They have to get rid of the fear mongering or we’ll all die of heart attacks.
↵ -
Ya, lets once again take the threat of terror lightly until we’re hit again. Apparently Democrats, Liberals have never heard the term “Complacency Kills” You people think just because Obama is in charge everything is going to be Okay. One day we will all realize he is destroying this country from the inside out and you dont even see it coming.
↵ -
For God sakes this is the same man that single handedly decided to decrease our missle defence system the next day after North Korea fired a long range missle. And now he wants to possibly do away with the terror threat level advisory completly. He is the one who is opening the door of fear. At least if your a little fearful you’ll stay on yiour toes instead of letting your gaurd down. Remember they hit us when we least expected it. Or have you all forgotten.
↵ -
Jettison the Color Coded Thereat list…. let’s replace it with cool looking pictures of the Seven Dwarfs… Why? ’cause that be sooooo saftey flame. That’s reason enough. Right?
↵ -
Fake alerts made to only support a trumped up war on terror.
Repubs are the master of making issues out of things that dont really matter.↵
