[Infowarrior] - Congress to Tweak DHS Color-Warning System

[Richard Forno]

Congress to Tweak DHS Color-Warning System
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/07/congress-to-twe.html

150hsasAt a blog such as this, we are, unsurprisingly, interested in all
things related to the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded threat
warning system. Although we'd prefer to just station klaxons like these in
every major city, we're stuck for now with DHS's confounding Crayola-hued
bad idea (Red means, er, run?).

But this may change in the near future. The House and Senate will soon
conference similar bills that have passed each chamber to implement security
recommendations made by the 9/11 commission. The House bill mandates that
DHS "shall not, in issuing any advisory or alert, use color designations as
the exclusive means of specifying the homeland security threat
conditions...."

Both bills would require DHS to include with every alert information about
protective measures and countermeasures used in response to a threat. DHS
would have to limit the alerts, if possible, to a "specific region,
locality, or economic sector believed to be at risk," rather than flood the
land with a rainbow of vague declamations about terror that everyone
ignores. At least the colors are purty.