Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge unveiled a new color-coded terrorist alert system Tuesday aimed at replacing vague warnings with more specific levels of threats and encouraging local officials to formulate their own action plans.
The new Homeland Security Advisory System employs an escalating scale of five threat levels, ranging from green for low to red for severe.
As with the old practice, the new alerts will be based on intelligence reports from the FBI, the CIA and other agencies, but they are to be more precise concerning the degree of danger and the kind and level of response by federal government officials.
The new guidelines give federal officials advice on what to do as threats grow, but no such guidance was offered to law-enforcement officials or the public. Ridge said it will be up to local and state government agencies, the private sector and individuals to react as they deem appropriate.
“If governors or mayors choose not to take extra protective measures in face of a credible and specific threat–or, conversely, take added measures for a threat that has passed–that is their right,” he said.
Ridge said the system is designed to motivate local leaders to develop emergency plans that would include ways to inform residents about how to react to attacks. The system is in force immediately for federal agencies but will not take effect nationwide until after a 45-day comment period, during which suggestions will be taken from government officials, law-enforcement and emergency response agencies, industry, and the public. Comments may be submitted via the FBI’s Web site, www.fbi.gov.
The new system will enable federal authorities to warn of highly localized threats. Ridge said the warning levels can be upgraded for the entire nation or for specific regions, industries or facilities.
“The Homeland Security Advisory System is designed to measure and evaluate terrorist threats and communicate them to the public in a timely manner,” he said. “It is a national framework, yet it is flexible enough to apply to threats made against a city, a state, a sector or an industry.”
The administration has been criticized for issuing four nationwide terror warnings in the past six months that largely failed to explain what intelligence the warnings were based on, where an attack might be expected or how the general public and local emergency agencies should prepare.
Questions in February
While the FBI in February warned that a Yemeni man and his associates might be planning an assault, officials were vague on the type, date and location of a feared attack, saying: “Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around 02/12/02. One or more operatives may be involved in the attack.”
As no terrorist attacks followed any of the warnings, officials also were concerned that Americans might become inured to them over time.
A spokesman for the White House Homeland Security Office said this type of specific warning plan had not been devised before Sept. 11 because the U.S. had not experienced such devastating terrorist attacks before. The Homeland Security Office was not created until October, and work on the new warning system did not begin until late last year, he said.
The new scheme uses a graduated color scale running from a green “low risk of terrorist activity” to a blue “guarded risk” to a yellow “elevated risk” to an orange “high risk” to a red “severe risk.”
To illustrate the application, Ridge said the nation has been at a yellow “elevated risk” state of alert since just after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
“Chances are, we will not be able to lower the condition to green until … terror networks of global reach have been defeated and dismantled,” he said.
Ridge said the responses will vary depending on the threat conditions.
“Under a guarded or blue condition–that’s a general risk of terrorist attack–federal agencies may review and update their emergency response procedures,” Ridge said. “We want them to test their emergency communication systems. They may also share with the public any information that would strengthen our response.
“Agencies under yellow condition may increase their surveillance of critical locations and implement contingency plans where appropriate,” he said. “Under red, you might see actions similar to the ones taken on 9/11, when we basically grounded most or all of air traffic for an extended period of time.”
Geographic precision
Under the new system, different parts of the country could be assigned different threat levels according to specific information. For instance, a threat might focus solely on the national monuments in Washington.
“If we received a credible threat at one of our national monuments, it could be designated orange while the rest of the country remained at yellow,” he said. “The Department of the Interior, based on that assessment and the elevation of the risk, would have to elevate or extend the conditions … prepared in advance in response to the high risk.”
Ridge emphasized that future warnings would be based on hard intelligence that meets certain criteria.
“A number of factors will be used to analyze the threat information,” he said. “Is it a credible source? Have we been able to corroborate this threat? Is it specific as to time or place or method of attack? What are the consequences if the attack is carried out? Can the attack be deterred?”
Ashcroft to issue calls
As in the past, the heightened warnings will be issued by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft or his designate, after consultation with Ridge and his staff.
Mike Scardaville, homeland defense policy analyst for the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, called the Ridge plan “a good base and a good start.” However, he said, the Justice Department should work on issuing a system of responses appropriate to each warning level.
“A law-enforcement agency should be able to know exactly what it should do in the event of an orange threat warning,” he said.
Many of the nation’s governors, mayors and police praised Ridge’s effort and pledged to support it, though they admitted there still were holes.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which represents major police departments, welcomed the system, saying it would bring some order to their efforts to respond to terrorist threats and to advise the public on how to respond.
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Alert levels
RED
Severe risk of attack. May require deployment of trained teams, closing of public and government facilities and monitoring or closing of transportation systems.
ORANGE
High risk. Recommends coordination of security efforts with armed forces or law enforcement agencies and additional precations at public events.
YELLOW
Elevated: Significant risk. Recommends increased surveillance of critical locations and implementation of some emergency response plans. This is the current U.S. level.
BLUE
Guarded: General risk. Agencies are asked to review and update emergency response procedures.
GREEN
Low risk. Officials assess facilities and act to reduce risks.
Source: Office of Homeland Security
Chicago Tribune.
